Left: Landscapes, Shitao (China, Guangxi Province, 1642-1707), China, Qing dynasty, dated 1694, Paintings, eight-leaf album, ink and color on paper. Los Angeles County Fund (60.29.1a-h). Courtesy of Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Right: Box (He) with Pavilions in a Landscape, China, Late Ming dynasty, about 1550-1644, carved red lacquer on wood core. Gift of the Sammy Yukuan Lee Family in appreciation of Col. and Mrs. Albert S. Baron (M.90.70.5a-b). Courtesy of Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Founded in 1965, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has been dedicated to collecting art works from a diverse range of cultures and time periods. Among them, Chinese art is one of the first areas that formed the museum’s collection. LACMA’s Chinese art collection, which grew from a small group of ceramics, now spans more than four thousand years and features extraordinary works ranging from ancient jade carvings to contemporary video and photography. The collection is strong in paintings, ceramics, lacquers, jades, metalwork, and furniture. With the recently added long-term loan of approximately 150 pieces of 17th century paintings from the Tsao Family, the museum is now home to works of important scholars and artists such as Wen Zhengming, Hongren, Kuncan, Shitao, and Zhu Da. The Heeramaneck Collection of ceramics is another core part of the museum’s Chinese art collection, highlighted by the Tang Funerary Sculpture Horse as well as a few Southern Song and Jin ceramics. In addition, the Lidow Collection and Behar Collection of ancient bronzes and funerary sculptures, dating as early as to Shang dynasty, are significant although few of them are on display.