Metropolitan Museum Exhibits Silk, Bamboo

Featuring some 80 objects and illustrations – drawn largely from the Museum's collections of Asian art and musical instruments – Silk and Bamboo: Music and Art of China will reveal the dynamic interplay of cultures, the continuity of musical practice, and the diversity of China's musical traditions from the fifth century B.C. to the present.

This exhibition will display a wide variety of Chinese musical instruments and art, including a rare ivory-covered pipa (lute) and a lacquered qin (zither) of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), extraordinary bells of the fifth century B.C., and a set of pottery figures in the shapes of dancers and musicians from the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) and Tang dynasty (618-907).

The exhibition is made possible in part by The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation and will run through February 7, 2010, at Egyptian Special Exhibitions Gallery

Silk and Bamboo will complement the China Festival (October 21-November 10, 2009) offered by Carnegie Hall. -- www.metmuseum.org