The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Asia Society, New York presents an unprecedented exhibition of ancient art from Viet Nam — the first in the United States to address the historical, geographic and cultural contexts of pre-colonial Vietnamese art in depth. Arts of Ancient Viet Nam: From River Plain to Open Sea introduces new scholarship on the history of Vietnamese art. Approximately 110 objects dating from the first millennium B.C. through the seventeenth century on rare loan from Viet Nam’s leading museums are on view. Highlights of the exhibition include ritual bronzes, terracotta burial wares, fine gold jewelry, Hindu and Buddhist sculptures and ornaments made of jade, lapis lazuli, crystal and carnelian. Arts of Ancient Viet Nam premieres in Houston on September 13 and will remain on view at the MFAH through January 3, 2010.