Prior to its establishment, a large number of works of art was located in the art section of
the Museum of Cultural Anthropology in Berlin which was established in 1873 on the basis
of an ethnographic collection dating from 1829.
The enormous quantity of exhibits seemed to make a separation between the Indian works
of art and the anthropological collection inevitable. Although this was acknowledged, nothing
was done until after the chaos and losses caused by World War II, when it was transformed
into an autonomous museum. Since then, the museum has systematically acquired works of
art so that today it has a world-famous archaeological and art historical collection.
The collections cover a number of large sections in the museum. Although imprinted seals
from Mohenjo Daro are the earliest signs of a large urban culture on the Indian Subcontinent,
authentic Indian art does not appear until 300 BC in the form of terracottas of different
origins and various iconographies. One cynosure in the collection is the group of Buddhist
sculptures from Gandhara AD 100-500, of which only a small part is on display at the
exhibition.
There are numerous sculptures from the classical and medieval periods from the School of
Mathura, as well as other areas in Northern India, enriched by examples from Rajasthan to
Bengal, from Kashmir to Tamilnadu. Of no less importance are the cultic bronze sculptures
dating from the beginning of the 7th century to modern times.
The handicrafts reflect the proclivities of the aristocratic clients and include valuable works
of textile art, glassware and jadework, carved ivory and wood carvings, as well as metal pots
and pans in the Bidri technique. The printed works of art, which depict religious and
mythological themes and musical images in colourful miniatures, and the Moghul paintings
of court life and the portraits of rulers are particularly impressive.
The Museum of Indian Art possesses examples of Buddhist manuscripts written on palm leaves and Jain manuscripts on paper, as well as a number of detailed miniatures of the Rajput School and albums and miniatures from the Moghul period and the Dekkhan area.
The transition to the present is represented by a smaller collection of contemporary Indian
paintings.
The Indian collection extends to include works of art from Nepal and Tibet, including
important Tangka paintings, manuscripts, bronze and brass sculptures. The museum's statue
gallery includes collections from Southeast Asia among which important bronze Khmer
sculptures feature prominently. There are sculptures in stone and clay, including glazed tiles
in relief with Jataka scenes from Pagan. All this is situated before the cast coulisse with
reliefs from Angkor Vat. There are also busts from Borobudur as well as Javanese and Thai
bronzes artwork.
Among the illuminated manuscripts, the Thai manuscript Traiphum dating from AD 1800 is
outstanding.
The Turfan Collection
The third section of the museum, which is especially important to international research and
exhibition activities, contains the so-called 'Turfan' collection. Between 1902 and 1914 the
works were housed in the Berlin Museum. In this period four expeditions to Central Asia into
the northern section of the Silk Route were undertaken. The expeditions, which were
alternately headed by the scientists Albert Grünwedel and Albert von Le Coq, who
were both affiliated to the museum, led to the discovery that the main path of Buddhism must
have come to China through Eastern Turkistan. It was established unequivocally that in AD
1000 this land was predominantly Buddhist and the majority of its population consisted of
Iranians and Indians.
The main source of these new insights was the large number of manuscripts which were
discovered, and the murals found in underground monasteries and open-air temples.
Whereas the manuscripts gave us clear-cur answers about the numerous languages and
writings of this region, which had been unknown before then, the murals, which were
painted on clay, taken in conjunction with the sculptures, tapestries, terracotta, pottery, and
seals discovered, provided a clear insight into the cultural life, the religious views and the
artistic customs of more than five centuries in the history of Eastern Turkistan.
Despite substantial losses during the war, nowadays the Museum of Indian Art houses about
12,000 exhibits. Apart form important exhibitions (Jagor, Leitner, Waldschmidt)
archaeological discoveries have also augmented the museum's collection. The fieldwork,
supported by the German research community, was carried out by the Museum between 1966
and 1974 at a number of excavation sites in Sonkh in North India.
The library of the Museum of Indian Art now contains about 13,500 books and bound
journals which places it among the most important libraries in the field of Asian art history
in Germany.
A good crowd-puller is the standing exhibition, which display about 600 selected specimens
from the museum's collection mentioned above, supplemented by the constantly changing
special exhibition in the studio room of the museum.
Exhibitions in recent years have included a number of large special displays, which were
either set up by museum employees or which they managed. Recent exhibitions included:
The Gods of the Himalaya: Buddhist art from Tibet (1990); Palace of the
Gods (1992); and Khara Khoto -- the black city along the Silk Route (1994).
Museum of Indian Art
Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin -- Preussischer Kulturbesitz
Lansstrasse 8
14195 Berlin (Dahlem)
Tel: +49-30-8301361
Fax: +49-30-8316384
Tue - Fri: 9am - 5pm; Sat - Sun: 10am - 5pm
Translated by Jobien Berkouwer