Asiatic Saloon. Henderson Collection of Oriental arms and armour. Chinese and Japanese bronzes, enamels, and lacquer work. Carvings in ivory, jade, and other materials. Japanese sword-guards, from the 15th to the 19th century. Japanese netsukes, or buttons intended to secure the pouch in the girdle; these are mostly of ivory and elaborately carved. Selection from the ancient sculptures brought by Sir Aurel Stein from Chinese Turkestan. Model of a Chinese house. The east bay of this room contains also (temporarily) some of the Ancient American objects belonging to the Ethnographical Collection.
Indian Religions Room, east of the Asiatic Saloon. Wallcases on the left contain sculptures of Siva, Vishnu, Ganesa the elephant god, and other gods of the polytheistic Hinduism which succeeded the expulsion of Buddhism from India, and still prevails. Those at the farther end of the room represent Indian Buddhism; the Gandhara sculptures in the south-east corner (wall cases 1-10) show Greek influence, due to the Eastern conquests of Alexander the Great and his successors. Buddhism was driven out of India by the Brahmans, and overran the rest of the East (see the next room); it left traces also on other Indian religions, especially the Jain, in west India. The wall-cases on the west half of the south wall contain figures of Jain 'tirthankaras' or saints. In the middle are a sacred Sikh book (under a canopy); model of a sacred car (of Vishnu ?) from the Carnatic, etc.
Buddhist Room. The contents of the Wall Cases illustrate Buddhism in China and Tibet (East), Burmah and Siam (East), Japan (South and West), India (West), and Java (West). Islam is represented in Nos. 57 and 58, Shamanism in 59 and 60, Lamaism in 61-64, Shintoism in 94 and 95. The small figure of a sage carved from an ivory tusk and set on a wooden lotus stand, in Case 75, has artistic merit. On the floor: Shinto shrine (Japan); tables and utensils used by the Shingon and Tendai sects of Japanese Buddhists for exorcizing the 108 demons; Chinese bronze bells and altar furniture; statue of a Lohan or Buddhist apostle (North end); wooden figure of a Bodhisattva (South); objects used by the Jews.
The Early Christian Room, occupying the bay to the south of the projecting wall-cases, contains collections illustrating early Christian worship: (1) Roman (lamps from the Catacombs); (2) Byzantine; (3) Greek; (4) Abyssinian; and (5) Coptic (Christian-Egyptian). Here also is a treasure (4-5th century) from the Esquiline Hill at Rome.
