26 October 2026 — 31 January 2027

Boats Floating Afar: The Maritime Trade of Ancient Chinese Ceramics

Around 120 Tang-to-Qing ceramics, in collaboration with the National Museum of China

For over a thousand years, Chinese ceramics crossed the seas along the Maritime Silk Road, connecting China with the Arabian Gulf, Africa and Europe and helping to create a shared history of trade and cultural exchange. The Maritime Silk Road was a network of sea routes linking China with Asia, the Arabian Gulf, Africa and Europe. From the Tang dynasty onwards, ceramics were exported in increasing quantities and became some of the most valued trade goods across the Indian Ocean, reaching markets from East Asia to the Middle East and beyond and influencing trade, daily life and artistic traditions around the world. Boats Floating Afar explores the history of Chinese pottery and porcelain made for maritime trade from the Tang to the Qing dynasties (618–1911 CE). Bringing together around 120 objects, it traces the development of ceramic production and exchange across more than a thousand years of maritime commerce. Objects recovered from shipwrecks, alongside archaeological discoveries and recent research, reveal the journeys these wares made across the seas and the networks through which they travelled, offering insight into the movement of goods, people and ideas, and showing how trade by sea enabled the exchange of knowledge, skills and traditions across great distances. The exhibition takes place in Temporary Gallery 13 at the National Museum of Qatar and is presented in collaboration with the National Museum of China. Entrance is free with museum admission.

National Museum of Qatar