, ca. 4th century The Chinese collection is represented by fine Dehua porcelain figures, Taoist and Buddhistic statuary, export porcelain, calligraphy and other examples of decorative art. The South Asian Galleries feature statuary from a range of periods, including
Chola bronzes such as a sculpture of
Uma, the consort of
Shiva and of
Somaskanda. The early Buddhist art of India is also represented by works hailing from the
Mathura and
Gandhara schools, including a rare sandstone Mathura Buddha dating to the
Kanishka era, and the head of a Gandharan
Bodhisattva. Other areas of note include South Indian woodwork, Nepali-Tibetan bronzes, textiles, late medieval miniatures and colonial prints. The Southeast Asian collections are broad in scope and are rich in ethnological material. Representing the aristocratic art of ancient Southeast Asia are Khmer sculptures,
Javanese temple sculpture (some on loan from Leiden), later Buddhist art from
Burma/
Thailand and the Sinicised temple art of
Vietnam.
Peranakan gold, textiles, tribal ornament and theatrical masks are other strengths of the collection. The Khoo Teck Puat Gallery is the permanent home for the cargo recovered from the
Tang Shipwreck, a sunken 9th century trading ship bound for Iran and Iraq, discovered in 1998 off
Belitung Island in the Java Sea. The recovered cargo comprises more than 60,000 well-preserved ceramics produced in China during the
Tang dynasty (618–907), as well as objects of gold and silver. Certain gallery rooms are also used for temporary exhibitions. A recent exhibition included the display of
Bronze Age masks from
Sanxingdui, Sichuan Province, China. On 25 June 2021, the museum launched an exhibition titled #SGFASHIONNOW. The exhibition, which is a collaboration between Lasalle College of the Arts' School of Fashion and the Textile and Fashion Federation (TaFF), is the first by the museum to showcase contemporary Singapore fashion. Buddhist stele == Museum Directors ==