Private Tours and Storytelling for Jade Circle Members
See the Asian Art Museum’s galleries with fresh eyes!
Jade Circle members receive one complimentary private docent tour or storytelling each year. A private docent tour or storytelling may be arranged for groups of 15 people or less, pending scheduling availability. Tours and storytelling must be scheduled 2 weeks in advance or more.
Below are descriptions of the tours and types of storytelling available. To schedule a tour or storytelling, please contact the Jade Circle at 415.581.3794.
Special Exhibitions
Tours are always available of the special exhibition on view. See current exhibitions on view.
Tours of the Permanent Collection by Area
China: 5,000 Years of Tradition and Innovation
Let your imagination be captured by the richness of China’s legacy—from its earliest writings to technical developments in working jade, clay, and bronze to “hidden meanings” in representations of nature, objects, people, structures, and abstract designs over a wide range of art forms.
Korea: Treasures Past and Present
Visit this distinguished collection reflecting Korea’s secular and religious life from ancient to contemporary times. Celebrated ceramics, sculpture, paintings, screens, and more are displayed in this suite of galleries.
Southeast Asia: Kingdoms and Cultures
Travel by land and sea to visit Southeast Asia, from Burma to Thailand, from Cambodia to Indonesia. Sculpture, carvings, ceramics, paintings, ritual daggers, furniture, puppets, and more tell the story of these diverse and colorful island and mainland countries.
South Asia: Beliefs Made Visible
Explore some of the world’s oldest religions—from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam to Jainism and Sikhism—through stone and bronze sculpture as well as paintings in various mediums. Meet gods and gurus, monks and hermits, and learn about legends that inform daily life on the Indian subcontinent even today. We will visit India, Pakistan, and surrounding countries.
Japan: Land of Contrasts
Experience Japan’s unique aesthetic—honed by years of alternating isolation and openness—through a wealth of textiles, paintings, prints, ceramics, and screens. Explore armor from the samurai warrior culture, and visit our authentic tearoom and renowned collection of Japanese bamboo arts. Along the way you’ll see the deep influence of Japan’s belief systems from Shinto to Zen Buddhism.
Himalayas: The Roof of the World
Cross the world’s highest peaks to explore the treasures of Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan. Through intricate paintings and ritual objects, discover a host of deities—wrathful and benign—and revered teachers associated with the distinctive beliefs of Himalayan Buddhism.
Tours of the Permanent Collection by Theme
Art of War
Throughout history, cultures have valued weapons for both their utility and their beauty. Artisans have designed and embellished weapons to emphasize the wealth and importance of their owners, and weapons and warfare continue to be the subjects of paintings, sculpture, and other forms of artistic expression. This tour examines the art of war across Asia through exceptional pieces in the Asian Art Museum’s collection.
From the Fire: Ceramics Across Asia
Explore the Asian Art Museum’s impressive ceramics collection to see how decorative motifs and technology evolved from the first vessels of Neolithic times to the exquisite wares of later periods, prized throughout the world for their beauty and importance as trade and tribute objects. Two versions of this tour are offered: Pan Asia (East, West, and Southeast Asia) and East Asia (China, Japan, and Korea).
Buddhist Arts
This tour follows the ancient faith of Buddhism across Asia from its beginnings in northern India more than 2,500 years ago. Exploring the role of geography, social and cultural needs, and political and economic factors that have affected Buddhist art, this tour also discusses the art’s religious function and the evolution of the Buddhist image.
The Silk Road: The Beginning of Globalization
The Silk Road—the more than 2,000-year-old network of overland and maritime trade routes connecting East and West—linked for the first time powerful and culturally diverse places as China, India, Persia, Egypt, and Rome. This tour delves into the artistic legacy of the Silk Road to illustrate how trade, travel, and cultural exchange transformed and modernized the ancient world.
Goddesses: From Righteous to Wrathful
Depictions of the feminine divine encompass a wealth of art from fertility goddesses and the Earth Mother to wrathful figures that help the devotee achieve nirvana. This point of view offers a fascinating take on worship in Asia filled with ancient stories of devotion, lust, compassion, wisdom, and power.
Arts of the Islamic World
This recently developed theme tour focuses on the various South, East, Southeast, and West Asian art objects in the museum’s collection that collectively represent the breadth and depth of the Islamic world. The tour explores the visual elements shared by Islamic art across time and space as well as the interactions of diverse cultures and artistic traditions.
Jade: Beauty, Wealth, and Power
Over time, jade has come to be associated in popular belief with everything powerful, beautiful, and precious. This tour explores the dedication, patience, and years of training jade necessary for artisans to produce objects of such beauty, as well as the fascination that jade held for the powerful Chinese and Mughal aristocracies. With more than 1,200 pieces spanning 5,000 years, the museum’s jade collection ranks among the finest assembled under one roof.
The Asian Art Museum: Its Art and Architecture
This recently added theme tour showcases not only the richness and range of artifacts in the museum’s exceptional collection but also its home in the reenvisioned 1917 Beaux Arts building that once housed San Francisco’s main library. As the tour covers issues involved in the redesign of a library into a museum, it also looks at original contexts—both architectural and cultural—in which many Asian Art Museum objects were made. This is the perfect introduction to the museum and its collections.
Arm-Chair Tours
Illustrated Talks Available at Your Site
Art, Acquisition, and Architecture
Meet the fascinating personalities who have made the Asian Art Museum what it is today.
Marco Polo and the Silk Road
Take a journey through the Asian Art Museum’s collections to discover the art and ideas that so fascinated Marco Polo along the Silk Road.
Masters of Bamboo
Revel in the aesthetic delights of Japanese bamboo baskets and sculptural pieces.
The Art of War
Discover the deadly beauty of ancient artifacts and art that recount the exploits of centuries of war across Asia.
Puppet Kings and Jesters
Delight in finding out more about Indonesia’s centuries-old tradition of puppetry based on ancient legends.
Hidden Meanings
Learn the secret meanings behind symbols in Chinese art. For instance, the Chinese words for bat, blessings, and riches are all pronounced the same way, making pictures of bats one of the most popular visual puns in Chinese symbolism.
Witches, Demons, and Spirits
Meet wrathful and otherworldly beings that fill the Asian Art Museum galleries and find out what they’re about.
Fakes, Copies, and Question Marks
Get a behind-the-scenes look at how the museum detects fakes, why it treasures some copies, and where there are still questions about the authenticity of some works.
Doris Duke and the King of Siam
Meet one of the world’s richest women and revel in the bejeweled Buddhas, fabulous furniture, and other objects from her legacy.
Talks About Special Exhibitions
Talks are available on past, present, and upcoming special exhibitions among them Afghanistan, Arts of the Sikh Kingdom, Emerald Cities, Geisha, Goryeo Dynasty: Korea’s Age of Enlightenment, Lords of the Samurai, Shanghai, and Bali.
Storytelling Program
Our trained storytellers lead visitors through the galleries to enjoy captivating Asian myths and folktales related to works of art. Sessions are approximately one hour long.
Chinese Myths and Folktales
Become enchanted with stories from Ancient China or celebrate the Lunar New Year with stories from the Chinese Zodiac during this storytelling session.
Japanese Myths and Folktales
Discover tales of magical creatures and adventures of samurai warriors in traditional stories from Japan.
Korean Myths and Folktales
Tales of powerful tigers and mystical magpies bring gallery objects from Korea to life.
South and Southeast Asian Myths and Folktales
Investigate artifacts in the South and Southeast Asia galleries while listening to stories from the life of Prince Rama and the Buddha, and folktales from many countries, including India, Pakistan, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
