ART BITES
ON A HIGHNESS NOTE Have you seen the museum store’s plush stuffed rhino, modeled after the famous ancient Chinese bronze rhino in the museum’s collection on view in Gallery 14? Well, the plush one has been serving as a goodwill ambassador with its abundant cuteness. We sent one of the adorable items to Kensington Palace as a gift to Prince George, the newborn child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. We received a very nice thank-you note from the palace on behalf of the young man who is currently third in line to the British throne. Now our goal is to get a royally approved stuffed rhinos to populate one of the nurseries on “Downton Abbey.” Talk about product placement. n WELCOME ABOARD! After an intensive nine-month international search, the museum welcomes Dr. Pedro Moura Carvalho as our deputy director for art and programs. He will be responsible for providing strategic oversight and management of the museum’s collection and exhibitions, as well as education and interpretive initiatives.
A scholar of Islamic art with deep interests in
cross-cultural artistic traditions, Pedro has been serving as chief curator and deputy director for curatorial, collections and exhibitions at the Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore, since 2011. He is a native of Portugal and holds an MA and Ph.D. in art and archaeology from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. SAVE THE DATE: SOUK RETURNS TO FORT MASON CENTER, OCTOBER 25–26
Keep an eye out for a Q&A with Pedro in the next
issue of Asian. n
Every two years, the Society for Asian Art, the museum auxiliary group, organizes a souk (Arabic for “market”) offering shoppers a chance to pick up one-of-a-kind Asian-themed treasures at discount prices. Proceeds from the sales go to support museum programs. The 2012 souk had nearly 3,000 items for sale, and this year’s promises to have even more. So mark your calendar for the souk at Fort Mason Center, October 25–26—just in time for holiday shopping.
your home and helping support the museum, your donation of said items is tax deductible, so everybody wins. For more info, visit www.societyforasianart.org/souk. n
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In the meantime, got any Asian items collecting dust? The Society can take them off your hands to sell at the souk. Besides uncluttering