Culture vultures in New York are being treated to a festival of Chinese history at the Big Apple's Metropolitan Museum of Art. An exhibition, showcasing the very finest from the Tang Dynasty, puts more than 400 works on display, many for the first time outside their home country.

The show is being billed as the largest Chinese cultural history display ever held in the United States.

These cultural artifacts date back more than 2,000 years spanning from the late Han to the Tang Dynasty. Many have been never on display outside China.

The objects bear witness to the extent of international trade relations between China and the outside world at the time of the Tang Dynasty, when ancient Chinese civilization is believed to have been at its zenith.

Bronze wares, ceramics, lacquer and jade objects as well as gold and silver articles offer visitors a step back in time and insight into Chinese history.

Selected from thousands of valuable pieces from 47 museums and collection institutes around China, the exhibits are divided into seven chronological sections.

The exhibition will run through January next year.