Asian Art Chapter 1

Jina, 2nd-3rd Century CE, Mathura, Sandstone

Ritual Offering Stand, 2600-1900 BCE, Burned steatite

Figurine of a Dancing Girl, 2500 BCE, Bronze

Torso of a Priest King, 2600-1900 BCE, white low fired steatite

Lion Capital from an Ashoka Column, 250 BCE, Sandstone

Stupa 1, Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh, 250 BCE

Standing Figure of Buddha, 2nd-3rd century CE, Schist.

Bodhisattva Maitreya, Kushan Period, 3rd century CE, Schist

Chaitya, Cave 19 Ajanta, 462-500 CE

Ajanta, 2nd-1st century BCE

artifacts / patron

man-made object // Someone who commissions, funds or sponsors a work of art

pottery / terra cotta / steatite

vessels or object made out of clay, ceramics // unglazed pottery // soapstone, talc/schist rock that is relatively soft and can be easily shaped/molded.

inlay

to set pieces of a material or materials into a surface to form a design

votive offering 

offering left as a ritual gift in a sacred place

inlay

stupa / chaitya / vihara

Buddhist architecture dome-shaped structure erected as a shrine containing sacred relics // Buddhist temple with a hall with a rounded end, housing a stupa or shrine // Buddhist monastery, signifies monks cells and gathering places within monastery.

anionic / iconography

refers to the absence of a direct graphic representation of a deity, here in early Buddhist art // identifying and studying the subject matter and conventional symbols of works of art

mudra

symbolic hand gesture in Buddhist art that denotes certain behaviors, actions, feelings

contrapposto 

figure sanding with most of its weight on one foot so that it sways gently sideways at hips

anthropomorphic

a god, animal or object with human characteristics or behavior

medium

the material from which a work of art is made.

material culture

objects suggestive of the culture of a particular group.