Next month, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, will host a special three-month exhibition showcasing two thousand years of Vietnamese art. The catalogue for the exhibition can be purchased here

MFAH and Asia Society Present Landmark Exhibition of Two Thousand Years of Vietnamese Art
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 07 April 2009

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Asia Society, New York will present an unprecedented exhibition of ancient art from Viet Nam—the first in the U.S. to address the historical, geographic and cultural contexts of pre-colonial Vietnamese art in depth. Throughout its long history, Viet Nam served as a central hub for trade routes connecting the regions of Asia and the West, with travelers and merchants traversing its long open plains and trade vessels from as far west as India and Rome finding safe haven in its harbors. Arts of Ancient Viet Nam: From River Plain to Open Sea will introduce new scholarship on the history of Vietnamese art. Approximately 110 objects dating from the first millennium B.C. through the seventeenth century on rare loan from Viet Nam´s leading museums will be on view. Highlights of the exhibition include ritual bronzes, terracotta burial wares, fine gold jewelry, Hindu and Buddhist sculptures and ornaments made of jade, lapis lazuli, crystal and carnelian. The works have never been exhibited in the United States and many have never traveled outside of Viet Nam. Arts of Ancient Viet Nam will premiere in Houston on September 13, 2009 and will remain on view at the MFAH through January 3, 2010. The exhibition will be presented at Asia Society in New York from February 2 through May 2, 2010.