Listen to the UVA Today Radio Show report on this story by Jane Ford:

December 22, 2009 — The University of Virginia Art Museum is the final venue of a two-year tour of "Treasures Rediscovered: Chinese Stone Sculpture from the Sackler Collections at Columbia University," an exhibition organized by the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery of Columbia University. Touted as "eye-opening" by Roberta Smith, art critic at the New York Times, the exhibition, is curated at U.Va. by Dorothy Wong, associate professor of East Asian art in the McIntire Department of Art. The exhibit will be on display Jan. 16 through March 14 in the Main Gallery of the U.Va. Art Museum.

Highlighting one of the notable collections of Chinese stone sculpture in the United States, 'Treasures Rediscovered' includes 21 monumental sculptures – steles, full figures and heads of divinities, as well as funerary objects – that provide a comprehensive view of how art manifests ritual practice and reveals, through iconography, the transmission and transformation of culture from the Han (206 B.C.–A.D. 220) through the Tang dynasties (A.D. 617–907). The exhibition also reveals the dissemination of Chinese Buddhist culture along the famed Silk Road.

As a counter to the colossal objects found in 'Treasures,' the museum will also present "Expressions of the Buddhist Faith," an exhibition drawn from the museum's collection and key loans from private collectors. From woodblock printed texts to ceramic tiles, miniature stupas and pagodas, paintings, and sculptures in different medium, this small selection of objects from across Asia demonstrates the broad range of religious expressions inspired by the Buddhist faith.

Public programming for the exhibition includes Lunchtime Talks and Saturday Special Tours. For information about these programs, contact the museum's education department at 434-243-2050.

The U.Va. Art Museum is open to the public Tuesdays through Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free.