National Museum of Asian Art, West Building
Exhibiting Freer's Bibles
November 16, 2013 – February 16, 2014
In November 1912, museum founder Charles Lang Freer put two rare biblical manuscripts on public view in his Detroit home. This installation showcases those antique works—a parchment codex of Deuteronomy and Joshua, and the so-called Washington codex (the third oldest parchment manuscript of the Gospels). This presentation exemplifies Freer's cosmopolitan aesthetic philosophy by juxtaposing biblical parchments with ceramics gathered from all over Asia and framed by Whistler's brilliant blue-and-gold decorations.
