Following male figures wearing a cap (cap-figures) in temple reliefs of the Javanese Majapahit period (ca. 1300-1500) leads to astonishing results on their meaning and function. The cap-figures, representing commoners, servants, warriors, noblemen, and most significantly Prince Panji, the hero from the East Javanese Panji stories, are unique to depictions of non-Indic narratives. The cap-figure constitutes a prominent example of Majapahit s creativity in new concepts of art, literature and religion, independent from the Indian influence. More than that, the symbolic meaning of the cap-figures leads to an esoteric level: a pilgrim who followed the depictions of the cap-figures and of Panji in the temples would have been guided to the Tantric doctrine within Hindu-Buddhist religion.

Edmund de Waal is a world-famous ceramicist. Having spent thirty years making beautiful pots―which are then sold, collected, and handed on―he has a particular sense of the secret lives of objects. When he inherited a collection of 264 tiny Japanese wood and ivory carvings, called netsuke, he wanted to know who had touched and held them, and how the collection had managed to survive.

And so begins The Hare with Amber Eyes, this extraordinarily moving memoir and detective story as de Waal discovers both the story of the netsuke and of his family, the Ephrussis, over five generations.

A nineteenth-century banking dynasty in Paris and Vienna, the Ephrussis were as rich and respected as the Rothchilds. Yet by the end of the World War II, when the netsuke were hidden from the Nazis in Vienna, this collection of very small carvings was all that remained of their vast empire.

The first scholarly monograph on Buddhist mandalas in China, this book examines the Mandala of Eight Great Bodhisattvas. This iconographic template, in which a central Buddha is flanked by eight attendants, flourished during the Tibetan (786-848) and post-Tibetan Guiyijun (848-1036) periods at Dunhuang. A rare motif that appears in only four cave shrines at the Mogao and Yulin sites, the mandala bore associations with political authority and received patronage from local rulers. Attending to the historical and cultural contexts surrounding this iconography, this book demonstrates that transcultural communication over the Silk Routes during this period, and the religious dialogue between the Chinese and Tibetan communities, were defining characteristics of the visual language of Buddhist mandalas at Dunhuang.

Volume 7 of Walter Spink's monumental and still controversial study of the famous Ajanta caves considers the many connections between the Bagh caves and its "sister site", Ajanta, particularly emphasizing the leading role that Bagh plays in the crucial matter of Buddhist shrine development and the transition from the aniconic to iconic forms of worship. He also explains the relationships between certain caves and solstices, as well as changing technologies, especially in the development of the door fittings in the monks' cells.

In Chinese, the character for "heart" is both heart and mind a source of thoughts, intelligence and feelings. This book is a meditation and contemplation on HEART. There are 20 Chinese words or characters inside, all coming from the root-word of "heart." Each one presented in Chinese calligraphy on batik. As you read this book, you are invited to pause at each page to reflect or meditate on both the paintings and the words. Engage both your heart and your mind. Be still. And listen to your own heart song. And as a bonus gift, you will also learn a new Chinese word on each page. Website: www.RunWaters.blogspot.com

"Ajanta: Year by Year" is planned as a biography of this remarkable site, starting with the earliest caves, dating from some two thousand years, to its startling renaissance in the brief period between approximately 462 and 480. Concentrating on the excavations of the later period, during the reign of the Vakataka emperor Harisena, it attempts to show how, after a surprising gap of some three hundred years, Ajanta's proud and pious courtly patrons and its increasingly committed workmen created not only the greatest but the latest monument of India's Golden Age. Nearly three hundred illustrations, in color and black and white, reveal the exuberant flowering of Ajanta and related Vakataka monuments, as well as the manner of their sudden demise.

The twenty-nine Buddhist caves near Ajanta form a devotional complex which ranks as one of the world's most startling achievements, created at the very apogee of India's Golden Age. Ajanta: History and Development, appears as part of the series Handbook of Oriental Studies, present the reader with a systematic treatment of all aspects of the site, the result of forty years of painstaking research in situ by Walter M. Spink. Volume one deals with the historical context in which this dramatic burst of pious activity took place under the reign of Vakataka emperor Harisena, (c. 460 - 477 A.D.), and with the sudden halt of activity almost immediately following the death of the emperor. In surprising detail the relative and absolute chronology of the site can be established from a careful reading of the physical evidence, with consequences for our dating of India's Golden Age. Ajanta, it appears, is a veritable illustrated history of Harisena's times, crowded with information on its history, development and how it was used. Originally published in hardcover

Part of a series of handy, luxurious Flame Tree Pocket Books. Combining high-quality production with magnificent fine art, the covers are printed on foil in five colours, embossed then foil stamped. And they're delightfully practical: a pocket at the back for receipts and scraps, two bookmarks and a solid magnetic side flap. These are perfect for personal use, handbags and make a dazzling gift. This example features one of Hiroshige's stunning views of Mount Fuji. In this artwork, we see Mount Fuji as viewed across the slopes of a small-scale replica of the mountain. These mini-Fujis were quite a common feature as they enabled the pious-but-busy to make at least an approximation of the great pilgrimage up Mount Fuji and derive some of the same spiritual benefits.

A spiritual journey in nine countries of Fareast. India, Nepal, Myanmar, Lao, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia... Everything begins with questions; travels also... The roadmap of the traveler who starts his spiritual journey is different, his questions are also... Mysterious attractiveness of spiritual way of living from Hindu ashrams to Buddhist monasteries, from Muslim dargahs to Christian churches... Legendary atmosphere of hippies' ultimate destination, Kathmandu... Tears falling down in the cemetery of WW1 in a remote village of Northern Myanmar... Long river journeys in legendary Mekong River... Majestic Angkor Wat Temple and Killing Fields of Cambodia... Tragedy of longneck Karen women living in Northeastern Thailand... Unique piece of mind moments that loneliness and silence turns into a magnificent meditation in lovely Koh Phangan Island and mystical ceremonies in the Island of Gods, Bali... ... These are just some titles to give an idea about breath-taking manner of journey... ... Detailed information and impressive comments about all special places from UNESCO World Heritage List of nine countries of Fareast, interesting details about lifestyles, cultures, beliefs, rituals, geographical information and descriptions like a pastoral symphony of national parks, mountains, volcanoes, towns, cities, human stories from the journey and so many details for those who are waiting to be encouraged to be "on the road..". The guide of this breath-taking long journey is just dreams. Dreams draw the itinerary step by step. Dreams cross the realities, Physical journey combines with spiritual journey, and the mission is being completed. The journey attains its goal...

This book offers an in-depth description and analysis of Chinese coin-like charms, which date back to the second century CE and which continued to be used until mid 20th century. This work is unique in that it provides an archaeological and analytical interpretation of the content of these metallic objects: inscriptive, pictorial or both. As the component chapters show, these coin-like objects represent a wealth of Chinese traditional folk beliefs, including but not limited to family values, social obligations and religious desires. The book presents a collection of contributed chapters, gathering a diverse range of perspectives and expertise from some of the world's leading scholars in the fields of archaeology, religious studies, art history, language and museology. The background of the cover image is a page from Guang jin shi yun fu , a rhyming dictionary first published in the ninth year of the Kangxi Reign (1652 CE). The metal charm dates back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE), depicting two deities traditionally believed to possess the majic power of suppressing evil spirits. The stich-bound book in the foreground is a collection of seal impressions from the beginning of the 20th century. Its wooden press board is inscribed da ji xiang by Fang Zhi-bin in the year of bing yin (1926 CE).

This text provides coverage of the history of the Japanese philosophy of art, from its inception in the 1870s to modern day. In addition to the historical information and discussion of aesthetic issues that appear in the introductions to each of the chapters, the book presents English translations of otherwise inaccessible major works on Japanese aesthetics, beginning with a complete and annotated translation of the first work in the field, Nishi Amane's ""Bimyogaku Setsu"" (""The Theory of Aesthetics""). The text is divided into four sections: the subject of aesthetics; aesthetic categories; poetic expression; postmodernism; and aesthetics. It examines the momentous efforts made by Japanese thinkers to master, assimilate and originally transform Western philosophical systems to discuss their own literary and artistic heritage.

"Traditional Monster Imagery in Manga, Anime and Japanese Cinema" builds on the earlier volume "Anime and its Roots in Early Japanese Monster Art," that aimed to position contemporary Japanese animation within a wider art historical context by tracing the development of monster representations in Edo- and Meiji-period art works and post-war visual media. While the previous volume concentrated on modern media representations, this work focuses on how Western art historical concepts and methodology might be adapted when considering non-Western works, introducing traditional monster art in more detail, while also maintaining its links to post-war animation, sequential art and Japanese cinema. The book aims at a general readership interested in Japanese art and media as well as graduate students who might be searching for a research model within the fields of Animation Studies, Media Studies or Visual Communication Design.

In tenth-century Iraq, a group of Arab intellectuals and scholars known as the Ikhwan al-Safa began to make their intellectual mark on the society around them. A mysterious organisation, the identities of its members have never been clear. But its contribution to the intellectual thought, philosophy, art and culture of the era - and indeed subsequent ones - is evident. In the visual arts, for example, Hamdouni Alami argues that the theory of human proportions which the Ikwan al-Safa propounded (something very similar to those of da Vinci), helped shape the evolution of the philosophy of aesthetics, art and architecture in the tenth and eleventh centuries CE, in particular in Egypt under the Fatimid rulers. With its roots in Pythagorean and Neoplatonic views on the role of art and architecture, the impact of this theory of specific and precise proportion was widespread. One of the results of this extensive influence is a historic shift in the appreciation of art and architecture and their perceived role in the cultural sphere. The development of the understanding of the interplay between ethics and aesthetics resulted in a movement which emphasised more abstract and pious contemplation of art, as opposed to previous views which concentrated on the enjoyment of artistic works (such as music, song and poetry). And it is with this shift that we see the change in art forms from those devoted to supporting the Umayyad caliphs and the opulence of the Abbasids, to an art which places more emphasis on the internal concepts of 'reason' and 'spirituality'.Using the example of Fatimid art and views of architecture (including the first Fatimid mosque in al-Mahdiyya, Tunisia), Hamdouni Alami offers analysis of the debates surrounding the ethics and aesthetics of the appreciation of Islamic art and architecture from a vital time in medieval Middle Eastern history, and shows their similarity with aesthetic debates of Italian Renaissance.

This volume addresses questions of canon, value, historiographical interest, and large-scale historical structures as they apply to Chinese art history in the context of post-colonial studies. As the field of Chinese art history moves into postcolonial studies, institutional critique, and economic and social contextualization, it is especially important that questions of canon, value, historiographical interest, and large-scale historical structures not be left behind. The aim of this book is to examine critically the historiography of the field of Chinese painting, to assess what achievements have been made, and to understand what and how personal backgrounds of scholars and institutional constraints may have affected various practices in the field. "This volume is a comprehensive and critically self-aware introduction to the history of Chinese art historiography in America, and includes reflections on more general issues of the encounters between East and West. This is a timely, much-needed book." -Olga Lomova, Director, Institute of East Asian Studies, Charles University, Prague, and Dircetor, Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation International Sinological Center, Prague; Editor of Recarving the Dragon: Understanding Chinese Poetics. "This volume provides a true dialogical interaction of ideas in scholarship and reveals Western, Chinese and Japanese approaches to Far Eastern artistic heritage. The mutual elucidation of pedagogical wisdoms brings about salutary heuristic lessons that help readers overcome assumptions in which Western theoretical methodology has been trapped for so long." -Shigemi Inaga, Professor, International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Kyoto, Japan); John Kluge Chair of Modern Culture in the Kluge Center at the Library of Congress; Editor of Crossing Cultural Borders: Beyond Reciprocal Anthropology; author of Kaiga no tasogare: Eduaru Mane botsugo no toso . "This volume contributes importantly toward understanding the current state of Chinese art history in the US and its complicated historiography. It is provocatively argued, engagingly written, and passionately felt." -Katharine P. Burnett, Associate Professor of Art History, University of California at Davis, has published articles in Art History, Word & Image, and Orientations and is working on a book, Dimensions of Originality: Essays in Seventeenth-Century Chinese Art. "This volume is the next in Jason Kuo's long bibliography of original and important contributions to the study of Chinese painting. Each essay raises questions that draw Chinese painting into the discourse of modernism more generally." -Nancy S. Steinhardt, Professor of East Asian Art and Curator of Chinese Art at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania. Author of Chinese Traditional Architecture, Chinese Imperial City Planning, and Liao Architecture. Editor and adaptor of Chinese Architecture, and co-editor of Hawaii Reader in Traditional Chinese Culture.

This book provides a rare and authoritative glimpse at the splendid decorative military art of the Ottomans, and art that is both insufficiently known and insufficiently appreciated. Professor Zygulski describes in detail masterpieces from collections around the world, including the Topkapi Saray Museum in Istanbul, the National Museum In Cracow, the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the Nationalbibliothek in Vienna, and elsewhere.

The aims of this volume are to reflect on the fundamental issues in the theory and practice of connoisseurship of Chinese painting in particular and those of connoisseurship of art in general. One of the most important challenges facing art historians and museum professionals today is that graduate schools have produced art historians with serious weakness, particularly a lack of direct firsthand experience with works of art in the original. If we base our construction of art history on works of calligraphy and painting and on the inscriptions, colophons, and seal impressions that accompany them, we must first make sure of their authorship and identity. "This fascinating book, the first one in which connoisseurship in Chinese painting and in European painting are discussed together, enables us not only to confront several approaches in the authentication of Chinese painting, but also to benefit from the Western art studies in connoisseurial analysis and the complex nature of copywork." -Michele Pirazzoli-t'Serstevens, formerly Curator of Far Eastern Art of the Musee Guimet, Paris, currently Directeur d'etudes, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, author of La Civilisation du Royaume de Dian a l'epoque Han, La Chine des Han: histoire et civilization, Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766): Peintre et Architecte a la Cour de Chine, and editor of Storia Universale dell'Arte: La Cina. "These thoughtful essays, addressing a range of historical, cultural, and philosophical issues, should remind all of us that the objectness of objects is the starting point from which all else follows." -Peter Sturman, Chair, Department of the History of Art and Architecture, University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of Mi Fu: Style and the Art of Calligraphy in Northern Song China. "Connoisseurship is the most fundamental yet often overlooked aspect of art history: it has the ability to affirm or completely change our understanding of an art work, the artist's oeuvre, or even art history itself. This volume is the first extensive investigation of Chinese connoisseurship as a general and theoretical discipline." -Pauline Lin, Bryn Mawr College, has published articles in The Review of Politics and Dictionary of Literary Biography: Classical Chinese Writers and is working on a book, Nature Inside Out: The Culture of Landscape from the City of Ye (196-240). "Connoisseurship is the necessary base of art history, for until we know who made what when, we cannot engage in interpretation of paintings. Bringing together scholars from diverse backgrounds, this volume provides the necessary basis for the most important task facing art historians today, the creation of a true world art history." - David Carrier, Champney Family Professor, Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Institute of Art and author of Sean Scully, Museum Skepticism: A History of the Display of Art in Public Galleries, and A World Art History.