I'm used to the old name: the State Museum of Oriental Art, but in recent years the museum's name has changed, now it's just the Museum of the East. Once the museum was located on the Obuh street, and now on Nikitsky Boulevard. Once I couldn't take my eyes from the incredible tray, decorated with shining, turquoise-blue wings of butterflies! It was a very long time ago. And I didn't become a frequent visitor to the museum, just visited this fairly tale sometimes. And I haven't seen the tray anymore, it remained for me a fabulous vision. As befits the fairly tale, the museum has left a wonderful aftertaste for many years and sometimes lured with its oriental tales on Nikitsky Boulevard, in a wonderful old townhouse with narrow staircases, passages and mysterious rooms full of fabulous treasures from the One Thousand and One Nights. It inspired me and reminded of an aria of an Indian guest (Do not count the diamonds in caves of stone, Do not count the pearls in the southern sea). It led away from the noisy streets of Moscow to the far, unknown countries...

And so the museum turned 100 years old! And on this occasion the exhibition "The East. Other Beauty" has been recently opened. The exhibition runs, it is devoted to the beauty of the women of the East, culture and traditions, a special understanding of this beauty. I visited the museum and I want to tell you a little bit about this exhibition. Let's start with portraits of Oriental beauties.

Pay your attention to the portrait frames. Here they are, living ideas for decoupage! Where to find such a blank? Maybe our craftsmen-carvers will get inspired?

Sultry, ox-eyed beauties painted on glass. The Japanese women from antique portraits do not look like them!

Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806), Three Beauties of Our Time. Color woodcut.

At the exhibition there are several dolls by Japanese artisans and wonderful carved figurines of ivory.

Look at the faces of porcelain dolls (biscuit).

Carved ivory, in the museum you can look at a marvelous chrysanthemum in the hands of this refined lady, you can't see it in my photo.

Clothing, jewelry and household items of Oriental women are very widely and variously represented in the exhibition, I could make more publications, but it is better to see them alive.

Utagawa Kunisada. Oiran. (From the series Contest of Present-day Beauties).

Three girls in the portrait of the Vietnamese artist are conditional and disembodied, but they are gentle, ghostly!

Tran Dong Luong. Before the Demonstration. Vietnam, 1957. Silk, watercolor, ink.

Phan Van Dong. The Girl in Black. Vietnam. Wood, lacquer.

Jalsaray. Copy of the picture by Sonomtseren. Portrait of Tusheet-khan's Wife. Mongolia, 1948. Paper, tempera.

U. Yadasmuren. Shanze Player. Mongolia, 1959.

B. Y. Nurali. Grape Harvest. Turkmenistan, 1929. Oil on canvas.

Nguyen Dang Khien. Four beauties.

V. Sidamon-Eristavi. Tamar the Great. Georgia, Tiflis, 1917. Oil on canvas.

True beauty never ages, doesn't it?

These boots — the shoes of Chinese beauties — are very special! It seemed to me that they were even less than the 33 size. In ancient times only small feet were considered to be beautiful. Beauties since their childhood bandaged feet not to let them grow to normal size! How did those poor girls walk? That is certainly: beauty demanded a great sacrifice!

No space left for jewelry, though it was very interesting. However, it is better to look at jewelry with your own eyes. I hope you found it interesting. The exhibition is open, the museum is very interesting not only for adults but also for children, miracles wait for them there!

In the same respect, Jeanne(gvasi).