A laser passing over the surface of an object produces a digital scan made of millions of measurements points. These data can be manipulated in a variety of ways to reveal new information and advance research. Image courtesy Smithsonian’s Digitalization Program Office
Buddha; China, Tang dynasty (618–907), early 7th century; hollow-core lacquer with pigment and gilding; Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment; Freer Gallery of Art, F1944.46
Disk (bi) with knobs, feline and dragon (detail), China, Eastern Han dynasty, 100–220, jade (nephrite), Gift of Charles Lang Freer, Freer Gallery of Art, F1916.155
Lidded ritual wine container (zun) in the form of a bird, China, Shanxi province, Middle Eastern Zhou dynasty, ca. 5th century BCE, bronze with gold inlay, Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer, Freer Gallery of Art, F1961.30a-b
Lintel possibly showing the Western Paradise of the Buddha Amitabha (detail), China, Shaanxi province, probably Xi'an, Tang dynasty, 8th century, marble, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, Freer Gallery of Art, F1913.137
Foliated mirror with birds and floral scrolls (detail), China, early or mid-Tang dynasty, late 7th–early 8th century, cast bronze and applied gold plaque with repoussé, chased, and ring-punched decoration, Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment, Freer Gallery of Art, F1930.45
The Drunken Monk (detail), artist: traditionally attributed to Li Gonglin (傳)李公麟 (ca. 1049–1106); calligrapher: frontispiece by Hongli, the Qianlong emperor 乾隆帝 (1711–1799); inscription: three inscriptions by Hongli, the Qianlong emperor 乾隆帝 (1711–1799); colophon: two colophons by Hongli, the Qianlong emperor 乾隆帝 (1711–1799), colophon attributed to Su Shi (1037–1101), colophon by Dongcun (13th–14th century?); China, Southern Song dynasty, mid-12th to mid-13th century, ink and color on paper, Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer, Freer Gallery of Art, F1968.18
Ewer (detail), Korea, Jeolla-do province, Gangjin or Buan county, Gangjin kilns, Sadang-ri group, or Buan kilns, Yucheon-ri group, Goryeo period, mid-13th century, stoneware with copper-red pigment and white slip under celadon glaze, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, Freer Gallery of Art, F1915.50a-b