Reports of the Museums and Research Institutes 



37 



least three years, features 27 inlaid brass, bronze, and steel 

 objects dating from the tenth to the nineteenth centuries. 

 The exhibition provides an in-depth view of the history of 

 inlaid metalwork from its inception in Iran and present-day 

 Afghanistan and Uzbekistan to its later development in 

 Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and Anatolia (present-day Turkey). 



At the Freer, complementing the Sackler exhibition, 

 "Music in the Age of Confucius," the Chinese seven-stringed 

 qin, a zither-like instrument with origins in the Bronze Age 

 (ca. 3000—1550 B.C.), was featuted in the small Freer exhi- 

 bition "The Dragon's Moan" (February 6, 1999-October 1, 

 2000). The exhibition told the story of the qin as it evolved 

 over the last two millennia and centered around two instru- 

 ments in the Freer collection, a tare Tang dynasty (618- 

 1279) qin from Charles Freer's original bequest and a Ming 

 dynasty (1368— 1644) instrument, a gift made by Dr. Shing 

 Yiu Yip in honor of the Freer's 75th anniversary. 



"The Idea of China in Japanese Art" (December 19, 1999- 

 June 11, 2000), a presentation of Japanese and Chinese paint- 

 ings, calligraphy, textiles, metalwork, and ceramics explored 

 how the arts of China influenced Japanese cultural life from 

 the eighth to the nineteenth centuries. The exhibition also re- 

 vealed how Chinese religious and philosophical teachings and 

 personal correspondence — by Japanese travelers to China and 

 Chinese immigranrs to Japan — contributed to Japanese art. 



A selection of works from one of the most comprehensive 

 collections of later Chinese calligraphy in the West was 

 placed on exhibition in April 2000 through January 2, 

 2001. "Brushing the Past: Later Chinese Calligraphy from 

 the Gift of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth" presents 20 examples 

 from Ellsworth's recent gift to the Freer of works dating 

 from the late eighteenth to the late twentieth centuries. The 

 gift of 260 works represents all the major trends in Chinese 

 calligraphy and most of the important individual calligra- 

 phers of the last 200 years. As a result of the gift, the Freer 

 Gallery is now one of the latgest repositories of Chinese cal- 

 ligraphy in the United States and the only museum with 

 such extensive holdings from the nineteenth and twentieth 

 centuries. 



Public Programs 



The Sackler exhibition "Music in the Age of Confucius" 

 provided a focus for much of the performing arts and film 

 programming in fiscal year 2000. The exhibition's opening 

 day featured performances by the Han Tang Ensemble from 

 New York and dancers from the U.S. -Chinese Cultural Arts 

 Association based in Washington. Over the course of the ex- 

 hibition's run, soloists from the Chinese Music Society of 

 Greater Washington gave more than 400 demonstrations on 

 modern instruments that related to the ancient instruments 

 on display. The series "Chinese Music in Film" gave audi- 

 ences a look at the ways Mainland and Hong Kong film 

 direcrors have depicted ancient Chinese coutt music, folk 

 music, Peking Opera, streer opera, and the contemporary 

 Beijing rock scene in recent feature films. The symposium 

 "Ancient Instruments, New Music," held on September 16, 

 was sponsored by the Else Sackler Foundation in memory 



and honor of Mrs. Else Sackler. Preregistered to capacity, the 

 symposium brought together performers and specialists in 

 ancient Chinese music and the music of China's ethnic mi- 

 noriries. On the final day of the exhibition, September 17, 

 cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Music From China Ensemble per- 

 formed the world premiere of Zhou Long's Rites of Chimes, 

 which was joinrly commissioned by the Freer and Sackler 

 Galleries and Music From China. The piece incorporated 

 performance on two of the ancient Chinese bronze bells in 

 the Sackler collection. 



Contemporary and crossover music was a highlighr of 

 the 15 Asian music concerts of the 2000 season, with 

 avant-garde jazz pianists Satoko Fujii and Vijay Iyer; elec- 

 tric komungo pioneer Jin Hi Kim; new age stars Shahin and 

 Sepehr; guitarist Sanjay Mishra; and the Iranian-Indian- 

 Afghan fusion ensemble Probe. Outstanding soloists in 

 South Asian music were once again a strong point, with 

 concerts by the qawwali ensemble of Mehr and Sher Ali, 

 sitarist Vilayat Khan, vocalist Ajoy Chakrabarty, and violin- 

 ist Lalgudi Krishnan. Indonesian music and dance returned 

 to the galleries' summer program with performances by 

 Balinese and Javanese gamelan ensembles based in Wash- 

 ington. 



In addition to the world premiere of Zhou Long's Rites of 

 Chimes, rhe Bill and Mary Meyer Concert Series featured a 

 performance of the major Tan Dun work Ghost Opera by vio- 

 linist Cho-Liang Lin and Gotham Musik; and two string 

 quartets by Bright Sheng performed by the Takacs Quartet 

 and the Shanghai Quartet. String Quartet number four, per- 

 formed by the Shanghai Quartet, was co-commissioned by 

 the Freer and rhe University of Richmond specifically for the 

 group. This series is generously supported by the New York 

 Community Trust — The Island Fund, Elizabeth E. Meyer, 

 and numerous private donors. 



More than 40 Asian feature films and documentaries 

 shown in the 2000 season attracted a total audience of nearly 

 10,000 people to the Meyer Auditorium. The galleries' am- 

 bitious "Masters of Anime" festival concluded with 11 

 additional programs of Japanese animation features and 

 shorts dating from the 1920s to 1998. The "New from Iran" 

 and "Made in Hong Kong" series celebrated their fourth and 

 fifth seasons, respectively. And the year concluded with a 

 retrospective of films by Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao- 

 Hsien, whom many critics considered the most important 

 director of the 1990s. 



Our Gallery Shop sales came within 2 percent of our 

 record-setting 1999 level during fiscal year 2000. This level 

 of success was once again accomplished by providing unique 

 merchandise that ties directly into our collections and exhi- 

 bitions, presenting an outstanding level of customer service, 

 expanding product assortments on our e-commerce Web 

 site, advettising to broaden our market share, and sponsor- 

 ing various gallery- and product-related events. In addition 

 to offering an Asian Book Club, the Gallery Shops sponsored 

 "Meet the Author" events, concerts, and food tastings during 

 the year. These efforts resulted in the shops' important con- 

 tribution to the cost of museum programs and acquisitions 

 of art. 



