Some exhibitions you simply have to see to believe — and this is one of them. On Saturday, November 7, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art opens “Woven and Cast: Chinese Textiles and Japanese Metalwork from the Shirley Z. Johnson Collection,” a dazzling encounter between two art forms separated by centuries, materials and continents, on view through November 28, 2027.
The show pairs late-imperial Chinese textiles from the Ming and Qing dynasties (15th–19th centuries) with contemporary Japanese metalwork, revealing unexpected commonalities: silk threads wrapped with gold and peacock feathers shimmering beside hammered gold, silver and copper. Shared motifs — flowing water, birds, landscapes — whisper of cultural currents running beneath both traditions.
The exhibition honors the vision of Shirley Z. Johnson (1940–2021), a Washington, D.C. resident for nearly 50 years, antitrust attorney, autism advocate and museum trustee, whose pioneering collecting helped win global recognition for Japanese metalwork. It joins the museum’s series spotlighting American women collectors in honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
As co-curator Jan Stuart puts it: metal strips can be woven like fabric, and textiles with metallic threads can shine like gold. Best of all? Like every Smithsonian museum, admission is free.
Photo: Daderot / Wikimedia Commons (Qing dynasty imperial court robe with gold-wrapped thread embroidery, like the textiles featured in the exhibition)
