The Sweet Briar College Art Gallery will open “Ancient Bronzes of the Asian Grasslands: From the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation” on Friday, Oct. 7. The exhibition will be on view in the Anne Gary Pannell Center Art Gallery through Sunday, Dec. 4. The Sackler Foundation’s Trudy Kawami, who curated the exhibit, will present a lecture at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25 in Pannell Gallery.


An ornament from Northern China or Inner Mongolia dating to the fifth through the third centuries B.C. measures 2 by 5 centimeters. Steppe artisans made small bronze ornaments in abstracted animal and bird forms.“The Eurasian grasslands, also known as the steppes, were home to remarkable non-urban cultures whose art, richly decorated with animal motifs, is only now beginning to be understood by scholars,” Kawami said.

Works contained in the exhibit — some dating to the 13th century B.C. — include bronze ornaments, weapons, tools and vessels that reveal aspects of the nomadic tribes’ work, dress, spiritual beliefs and social structure.

Many are notable for their transportable size, which suggests the bearers’ mobile lifestyle. Others point to the strong connection to horses, which were first domesticated on the grasslands and used to herd sheep, goats and cattle. By the early eighth century, the steppe peoples were supplying horses to the empires of eastern and western Asia.

“The horses that carried the steppe dwellers in life — and were often buried with them in death — were also decorated with bronze ornaments,” Kawami said.

Gallery hours are noon to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, noon to 5 p.m. Friday, and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Exhibits, lectures and events are free. For more information, please contact Rebecca Massie Lane, director of SBC galleries and the Arts Management Certificate Program at (434) 381-6248 or rmlane@sbc.edu.