MARYAM EKHTIAR: The large bowl with radiating lines has some marvelously animated fish swimming around its center. At this case, I'm joined by Denise Leidy. She’s a curator in the Asian Art Department. We're comparing the large bowl with the smaller one in the case that's all white. Both vessels are made from a material known as stone paste.

DENISE LEIDY: Stone paste - That's because it's not a clay, right? It's really a paste of ground stones.

MARYAM EKHTIAR: Because it's a mixture of glassy material and clay.

DENISE LEIDY: So again, it's the story we’ve seen elsewhere in the galleries, where ceramics from other parts of the world, specifically China, probably, were coming in, and the Iranian potters were basically responding to new materials in different ways. The white one looks extremely Chinese to me, I think both in the simplicity of the shape, in the fact that it's a very simple, quiet object.

MARYAM EKHTIAR: They were looking at Chinese examples; and they're also trying to get the thinness of the body.

DENISE LEIDY: So, the ceramic, the porcelain thinness?

MARYAM EKHTIAR: Yes, the thinness of the porcelain.

NARRATOR: To hear about the cultural exchanges along what is known as ‘The Silk Road,’ press PLAY.