Celestial Silks: Chinese Religious & Court Textiles

This is a spectacular exhibition of a seldom seen aspect of the arts of China, which is perhaps strange bearing in mind that it was silk which gave its name to the exotic and fabled Silk Road, and the word "seres" (silk) was the name by which the Chinese were known at the time of those first tentative contact through trade between the classical world of the Eastern Mediterranean and far Distant China some 2000 years ago. Silk is a fragile commodity and examples centrures old are exceedingly rare. This exhibition includes three silk robes dating from the 6th century which have never been on public display.