Benevolence & Loyalty: Filial Piety in Chinese Art

Co-curated with Professor Ina Asim in support of her Chinese and Asian history courses, this selection of paintings and objects represents ideals of benevolence and loyalty, Confucian values that exerted strong ethical and political influence in China, Korea, and Japan for more than 2,500 years. Featuring an album depicting the Twenty-Four Paragons of Filial Piety (Ershisi xiao) – a series of virtuous men and women whose exemplary conduct has been extolled for generations – along with an exquisite nineteenth-century nonofficial formal jacket for a woman on which are embroidered scenes from The White Snake and Dream of the Red Chamber, and other related works from the museum’s permanent collection.