People and Their Worlds Between the Ayeyarwaddy and the Mekong: An exhibition at the Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan, in collaboration with us
The exhibition Peacock and White Elephant, which will be on view at the Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan from April 29 to September 6, 2026, was developed as a joint project with us as part of a partnership between the two museums that has been in place since 2017.
The exhibition concept was developed jointly by curators from both museums. Using examples of daily routines of families, artisans, and Buddhist monks in Myanmar and Thailand, it tells the story of the lives, work, celebrations, and cultural creativity of the people in the region between the Ayeyarwaddy and Mekong rivers. In doing so, it conveys both the local creativity and uniqueness of each region, as well as the transregional connections with the major neighbors India and China.
The exhibition features a total of 86 highlights from the Linden Museum’s Southeast Asian collections. These include Buddhist sculptures from the 15th to 20th centuries, Burmese lacquerware from Bagan, ceramics from the 15th to 17th centuries from the Kingdom of Sukhothai, filigree silverwork, historical manuscripts, musical instruments, shadow puppets, and marionettes.
While all these objects demonstrate the craftsmanship of artisans and artists from the Ayeyarwaddy to the Mekong, they also reveal diverse traces of mutual inspiration both within the region and from connections with India and China. While music and the performing arts, for example, often present narratives originating in India in a translated form adapted to local aesthetics, ceramics and lacquer art bear clear traces of the influence of Chinese immigrant artisans or imitations of sought-after Chinese export goods. In addition to vivid insights into the artistic creations and daily lives of people living between the Ayeyarwaddy and Mekong rivers, visitors also gain an understanding of the transregional connections that have developed over the course of history.
