Drexel-to-Present-Dragon-Exhibition

Iron Red Porcelain Dish with Five-toed Dragon with Sacred Pearl, China, Ming Dynasty – 1522-1566, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology,Bequest of Robert C. Alexander, No. 88-10-19A

In celebration of the 2012 Year of the Dragon, Drexel University will host an exhibit dedicated to the dragon.

“The Iconography of the Dragon:  East and West,” made possible by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation will be open to visitors from April 2 to May 11 at the University’s Rincliffe Gallery on the third floor of Drexel’s Main Building at 32nd and Chestnut Streets.

Featuring objects from the 16th through the 19th centuries, the exhibit explores the distinct representations of the dragons of Eastern and Western cultures and focuses on the literary and cultural sources that created them. 

Objects are on loan from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, Brooklyn Museum, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and a private collector.

The exhibit will feature a lecture by Jacqueline M. DeGroff, curator of the Drexel Collection_sm, on the contrast between the Eastern representation of the dragon as a benevolent bringer of luck and fortune and the Western dragon as a winged, ferocious beast.  The lecture, followed by a reception, will take place on April 25, at 6 p.m. in the Anthony J. Drexel Picture Gallery on the third floor of Drexel’s Main Building. The exhibit and lecture are free and open to the public. 

For more information, on the exhibition, call 215-895-0480 or email degroff@drexel.edu.