An exhibition featuring over 240 Silk Road artifacts opened Tuesday at the National Art Museum of China (NAMC) in Beijing.

[Photo by Lu Peng from Xinhua]

The exhibition, "Ink Splendor and Cultural Context: Gansu Silk Road Art Treasures Exhibition," brings together painted pottery, bamboo slips, silk manuscripts, inscribed bricks, sculptures, and mural reproductions.

[Photo by Lu Peng from Xinhua]

The collection is from the Dunhuang Academy, the Gansu Provincial Museum, the Gansu Jiandu Museum and the NAMC.

Among the highlights are a wooden map unearthed in Tianshui, Gansu Province, which dates back to the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), and a Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) writing brush.

[Photo by Lu Peng from Xinhua]

[Photo by Lu Peng from Xinhua]

The exhibition is part of a series launched by the NAMC to showcase the artistic ideal of the Chinese nation and the distinctive characteristics of Chinese civilization, said Wu Weishan, the NAMC curator.

The exhibition will run till August 17.