The Cincinnati Art Museum will open a new exhibition titled "Rediscovered Treasures" this fall, featuring approximately 60 East Asian masterpieces from its own collections, including Japanese armor, Chinese scrolls, Korean lacquer, a Japanese bronze "magic mirror," a Qing dynasty portrait of Lady Nian, and a Meiji period sumo wrestler's embroidered apron. The exhibition runs from September 19, 2025 to January 18, 2026, and is organized into three thematic sections: Rediscovery, New Identities, and Conservation. Admission is free.
The exhibition matters because it highlights the museum's ongoing effort to properly identify and interpret overlooked or mislabeled works in its collection, many of which entered the museum in the late 19th and early 20th centuries but lacked expert documentation. The show underscores the importance of curatorial research and the formal establishment of the museum's Asian art department in 2002, demonstrating how institutional investment in specialized expertise can unlock new cultural narratives and connect local audiences to global art histories.