BRUSSELS, BELGIUM.- During the 16th century, Portuguese sailors braved international waters to create a global trading network that extended from Europe to Brazil, Africa, the Persian Gulf, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China and Japan. This naval empire connected civilizations from all the known continents, transforming commerce and initiating unprecedented cultural exchange.

"Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries" explores the artistic achievements that flourished when these sailors exposed new creative techniques and imagery to the world as they transported goods from port to port and is on view at the Centre For Fine Arts, Brussels, through February 3, 2008.

The exhibition presents approximately 250 objects produced by each of the cultures touched by Portugal's early trade routes. Portugal was the first European nation to build an extensive commercial empire reaching eastward to Africa and Brazil and westward, through the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, to India, China, Japan and Southeast Asia. Contact with these regions, which had been virtually unknown to Europeans, led to the creation of highly original works of art, some intended for export and others for domestic enjoyment.

Initially displayed in princely "cabinets of wonder"—predecessors of the modern museum—and other royal and aristocratic collections and now scattered in museums and private collections throughout the world, the paintings, sculptures, manuscripts, maps, early books and other objects assembled in the exhibition will provide a rich image of a "new world" during its formation.