Since the late centuries BCE, Maritime Asia has been the theatre for the circulation of people, goods, languages and ideas along its sea routes; it can be conceived as one interconnected network with a common history. This region is made up of a web of ever-changing relationships between coastal and inland polities, linked by port cities spanning the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea and the East China Sea.

The importance of sea routes in shaping pre-modern, intra-Asian connectivity, via trade, diplomatic contact, and religious and cultural exchange, is becoming more widely recognised. Rather than being a case of “cultural drift” and occasional inter-cultural contact, the current view is that this was a robust and effective trading network, supported by coastal and inland polities resulting in the cultural transmission of religious beliefs and artistic styles. The economic/mercantile maritime routes provided conduits for the formation and spread of Buddhism. Buddhism, including its philosophy, art and architecture, originated in the Ganges Basin and spread throughout Eurasia, Southeast Asia and Eastern Asia. As a result of selective regional adaptation of intellectual, cultural and aesthetic exchanges, Buddhist art flourished and changed across the maritime route.

This exhibition is an interdisciplinary investigation of the cross-cultural paths that informed the creation of localised Buddhist religious and cultural practises across the region, creating a florescence of artistic diversity in Buddhist art. The exhibition includes important examples of early Buddhist sculpture, and traces its development over the centuries from India and Sri Lanka to China and Japan along the maritime routes of Southeast and Eastern Asia.