The Asia Week New York Association is pleased to announce that its annual invitation-only reception, heralding the nine-day Asian art extravaganza that stirs excitement throughout New York every spring, will take place at The Metropolitan Museum on March 16, 2015.

“We are honored to host our reception on the milestone occasion of the Metropolitan Museum’s unparalleled Asian art department’s 100th anniversary,” says Carol Conover, chairman of Asia Week New York. “I can’t think of a more glorious setting in which to celebrate the sixth edition of Asia Week New York.”

Maxwell K. Hearn, Douglas Dillon Chairman of the Metropolitan’s Department of Asian Art, commented: “We are delighted to once again welcome the Asian art community to the Met as part of the exciting events of Asia Week. 2015 marks the centennial of the establishment of the Met’s Asian art department, and we are celebrating this milestone with a yearlong series of new exhibitions and installations featuring the permanent collection-eight of which will be open during Asia Week. These include treasures of Chinese decorative art, eight centuries of Chinese painting in the album format, a dazzling reinstallation of our Himalayan collection, and fascinating surveys of Japanese and Korean art that reveal Americans’ changing tastes and collecting interests. Through these and other displays in the Met’s galleries, one can explore the history of the West’s encounter with the East.”

According to Ms. Conover, the Metropolitan Museum will open all of its Asian art galleries for viewing so that guests can avail themselves of the special curatorial tours of the major exhibitions on view during Asia Week New York. They include: The Art of the Chinese Album; Painting with Threads: Chinese Tapestry and Embroidery, 12th – 19th Century; Sumptuous: East Asian Lacquer, 14th-20th Century; Sacred Traditions of the Himalayas; Celebration of the Year of the Ram; Inventing Korea: 100 Years of Collecting at the Met; Discovering Japanese Art: American Collectors and the Met; and the reinstallation of the Galleries for Nepal and Tibet.

Many of the Asia Week New York dealers will launch their exhibitions on Friday evening, March 13. The exhibitions will open to the public during Open House Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, March 14 and 15 and throughout the week until March 21.

For more information visit www.AsiaWeekNewYork.com. ‘)}