Asian Civilisations MuseumCivic District
Crosscurrents: Masterpieces of Mughal, Safavid and Ottoman Art from the Musée du Louvre
100 Islamic-art masterpieces from the Louvre alongside 30 ACM works, tracing the 16th-18th century world connecting the Mughal, Safavid and Ottoman empires with Southeast Asia.
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A jade cup inlaid with gold and rubies from Myanmar once belonged to Louis XIV at Versailles and entered the Louvre in 1796. It is now in Singapore, one of around 100 Louvre pieces, many of them leaving Paris for the first time.
The Asian Civilisations Museum adds 30 works of its own and hangs the two collections together across Level 2 and the floor above. Level 2 takes the Safavid, Mughal and Ottoman courts in turn. Upstairs, all three are mixed with objects from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar, to argue that Southeast Asian makers reinvented foreign forms in local materials rather than copying them. The Louvre pieces go home in January. The Tupperware you lent a colleague never does.
Entry is S$25, free for Singapore citizens and PRs. Allow 45 minutes to an hour, longer if you add the permanent galleries. On Fridays the museum stays open until 9pm.
Editor's pick
A jade cup set with gold and Myanmar rubies once belonged to Louis XIV at Versailles. Around 100 Louvre pieces hang beside 30 of ACM's own, arguing that Southeast Asian makers reworked Mughal, Safavid and Ottoman forms in local materials.
Look for
The jade cup from Louis XIV's collection
Carved jade with gold inlay and Myanmar rubies, once at Versailles.
Mother-of-pearl ewer and basin
A Mughal set from the late 16th to early 17th century, a luxury good that travelled through ports such as Goa.
The Safavid tile panel
A glazed panel of a poetry contest in a garden, one figure reciting while another writes the verses down.
The Minangkabau mosque model
A carved West Sumatran model with tiered roofs and a small dome, mixing outside influence with local tradition.
The miniature paintings projected on the wall
Mughal and Persian miniatures enlarged to wall size, found by turning left at the Trading Verses tiles.
Good for
- Evening Visits
- Nerding Out
- Out-Of-Town Guests
About 45 min
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Image credits
8
- Fear No Power: Women Imagining OtherwiseCourtesy of National Gallery Singapore
- SINGAPORAMA by Navin RawanchaikulCourtesy of National Gallery Singapore
- Lai Foong Moi: CrossingsCourtesy of National Gallery Singapore
- Asian Civilisations MuseumIrwan Shah Bin Abdullah, CC BY 3.0
- National Gallery SingaporeGordonMakryllos, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Children's Museum SingaporeElisa.rolle, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Peranakan MuseumGoAheadFan95 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- ArtScience MuseumBasile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0