Background Information

• Art has a long history in this region of Asia with the earliest known ceramic vessels found there.

  • Undated fragments from Yuchanyan Cave in China date to 18,300 and 17,500 BCE.

  • Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley Civilizations, and China were some of the ancient civilizations in South, East, and Southeast Asia.

Japan

Time Periods

• Jomon Period (c. 14,000 BCE - 300 BCE)

  • Hunter-gatherer society

  • Known for unique rope-patterned pottery (Jomon pottery)

  • Nomadic lifestyle in small villages

• Yayoi Period (c. 300 BCE - 300 CE)

  • Includes the transition to agriculture, especially rice farming

  • Wheel-thrown pottery and social organization

  • Contact with Korea and China

• Kofun Period (c. 300 CE - 538 CE)

  • Large burial mounds (kofun)

  • Emergence of centralized states and elites

  • Influence from China and Korea in culture and governance

Shinto

• Shintoism centers on kami, or spirits, found in nature and ancestors.

  • Practitioners worship at shrines, consider nature sacred and purity important, and encourage living harmoniously with kami and others.

• Shinto has influenced Japanese culture, art, and festivals.

  • It coexists with other religions like Buddhism.

• There's no central authority or fixed doctrine in Shinto.

India

• India contains the religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, all of which share the same goal of spiritual development, release, and divine union.

  • Hinduism is characterized by the belief in many gods, with a focus on spirituality, karma, and reincarnations.

    • The three principle deities: Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the preserver; and Shiva, the destroyer.

    • Vishnu has various forms; for example, Lord Rama and Lord Krishna.

    • Ganesha is believed to remove obstacles and help with new endeavors.

China

• East Asian religions emphasize human connection to both the natural and spiritual worlds.

  • This social hierarchy encouraged appropriate social behaviors in Chinese societies.

  • An almost antisocial focus on living in harmony with nature and the Dao led to the development of Daoism and Confucianism in China in the fifth century B.C.E.

The Beliefs, Focuses, Founders, and Goals of Daoism and Confucianism

• While Daoism emphasizes belief in nature and dealing with life in a natural manner, Confucianism is based on human conduct as opposed to religion and belief in God.

• Daoism focuses primarily on nature; Confucianism is focused on improving society.

• Lao Tzu founded Daoism; Kong Qui founded Confucianism.

• The goal of Daoism is to have a balanced life; that of Confucianism is to create harmony in the society.

Buddhism

• Through its emphasis on nature, interconnectedness, and appropriate behavior, Buddhism had clear affinities with the indigenous Chinese religions.

  • Korean traditions include Confucian, Buddhist, and indigenous shamanic beliefs and practices.

Islam

• The area of South, East, and Southeast Asia had interactions with foreign cultures and western religions, including Christianity.

  • There is a strong Islamic influence in India, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

The Art

• Architecture in South, East, and Southeast Asia often has religious purposes.

  • Temples and shrines were built for housing deities.

  • Some temples were carved into rocks; rock-cut caves with Buddhist elements are found from India to China.

Islamic Architecture

• Architecture in South and Southeast Asia are either secular (forts and palaces) or religious (mosques and tombs).

  • Islamic mosques are decorated with non-figurative designs like calligraphy and plants.

    • All mosques have a Qibla wall facing Mecca, with an empty Mihrab niche for prayer.

Textiles, Ceramic Arts, and Metalwork

• Important textile forms from this region include silk and wool tapestry weaving, cotton weaving, printing, painting, and carpet weaving.

• Ceramic Arts in Asia have existed since ancient times.

  • High fired porcelain include some of the innovations from the area.

• Metalwork included sculpture, weaponry, and décor.

Calligraphy

• Calligraphy is a cherished form of art, and in China, has a higher status than painting.

  • Islamic art of Asia uses calligraphy to adorn their architecture to adorn their architecture, ceramics, and manuscripts.

Indian Art

Historical Background

Alexander the Great and the Maurya Dynasty

• In 326 BCE, Alexander the Great reached the Indus River, but his troops refused to continue into India.

  • After Alexander’s death in 323 BCE, the empire was divided among his top three officers.

  • One officer, Seleucus Nicator, ruled from 321 - 281 BCE and invaded India.

• Chandragupta Maurya, ruling from 323 - 298 BCE, defeated the Seleucus in 205 BCE, establishing the Maurya Dynasty in India.

  • Chandragupta’s successor, his son Bindusara, began ruling in 297 BCE.

• Chandragupta’s grandson, Ashoka, ruled from 272 - 231 BCE and is considered Ancient India’s greatest emperor.

  • King Ashoka is credited with introducing Buddhism to India.

Siddharta Gautama and Buddhism

• Known as The Enlightened One, Buddha was born in 563 BCE.

  • His name was Prince Siddharta Gautama and he was the eldest son of the Shakya clan’s king.

• At 29 years old, Siddharta Gautama left his royal life to explore the world’s suffering and he spent six years seeking enlightenment.

  • He finally achieved enlightenment through meditation under the bodhi tree in eastern India.

• After being enlightened, he became Shakyamuni Buddha.

  • He delivered his initial sermon at Sarnath, India’s deer park, and this sermon is said to have set in motion the Wheel of Dharma.

• The halo symbolizes holiness in Christian, Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhism. They symbolize the luminous aura of divinity around enlightened or divine beings and represent supreme power and reverence.

  • Buddha is often depicted with a halo.

• The Four Noble Truths are Buddhism’s famed four truths that are called noble because they liberate us from suffering.

  • They are the Buddha’s basic teaching, encapsulating the entire Buddhist path.

    1. Life is suffering

    2. Suffering is caused by desire

    3. Desire can be overcome

    4. Follow the Eight-Fold Path

Common Buddhist Symbols

• The lion represents royalty, reflecting Buddha's royal origins pre-enlightenment.

• The wheel, known as the dharma chakra, symbolizes Buddha and his teachings.

  • Universally, the wheel has become the symbol for Buddhism. The dharma wheel has eight spokes, which represent Buddha’s Eightfold Path.

• The lotus flower in Buddhism symbolizes purity of body, speech, and mind.

  • The flower's growth from mud to blossom represents the soul's journey from materialism to enlightenment.

• The Bodhi Tree is a sacred fig in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India.

  • Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment beneath the Bodhi Tree.

  • His enlightenment under this tree led to the fundamental insights of Buddhism on suffering and its cessation.

Required Works

192. Great Stupa at Sanchi. Madhya Pradesh, India. Buddhist; Maurya, late Sunga Dynasty. c. 300 BCE - 100 CE. Stone masonry, sandstone on dome.

• The Great Stupa at Sanchi was commissioned by the Indian Emperor Ashoka who reigned from 272 - 231 BCE.

  • A devout Buddhist, Ashoka promoted the religion in his empire by constructing stupas, key religious buildings.

  • Ashoka erected tall pillars with animal sculptures atop them, the most celebrated being the Lion Capital at Sarnath, now India’s national emblem.

  • Ashoka’s laws were engraved on rocks and stone pillars (Rock and Pillar Edicts) placed in public places around the empire to instruct his subjects; through these he taught them Buddhism.

• Stupas symbolize the Buddha and his teachings; although some stupas hold the Buddha’s relics, in general, the stupa’s connection to the Buddha’s body is symbolic.

• It is a shrine shaped like a dirt mound, faced with stone, without an interior stands 50-feet tall.

  • Worshippers walk clockwise around the stupa to honor the Buddha.

• Carved on the east Torana is a scantily clad, sensuous woman called a Yakshi.

  • The Yakshi Goddess in Buddhist art represent fertility and link to old South Asian traditions.

  • The Sanchi Stupa has four gateways (torana), each with carvings.

    • These carvings show the Buddha's life and his past lives' stories.

• The circumambulation of the stupa also portrays the never-ending cycle of rebirth, and the story of the Buddha’s life is symbolized by the gates positioning:

  • East Gate: Buddha’s birth

  • South Gate: Buddha’s enlightment

  • West Gate: Buddha’s first sermon

  • North Gate: Nirvana (the most elaborate gate)

• The toranas were added in the first century BCE by the Shunga Dynasty as points of orientation.

  • They have square posts with lions or elephants on top and three curved lintels with scrolls held up by Yakshi figures.

  • The gates do not depict the Buddha but have carvings that tell stories from his life.

• Stupas were built as reliquaries and housed the remains of a Buddhist philosopher or teacher; in this case, Buddha's ashes are buried inside.

  • Because it is a reliquary, it became a pilgrimage site for Buddhists.

  • The belief is that worshippers gain spiritual merit by being close to the stupa's contents.

• Chatra means parasol, and symbolizes protection and monarchy in Buddhism and Hinduism.

  • Buddhist stupas have chatras made of stone disks on top as decoration.

  • These chatras represent the three key aspects of Buddhism: the Buddha, the dharma (teachings), and the sangha (community).

  • The yasti (spire on top of a stupa) symbolizes the universe’s axis. It is surrounded by a structure called a harmika, like a square fence, which represents paradise.

    • Chatras are attached to the yasti.

• The Great Stupa stands on the axis mundi, connecting the heavens and the earth (represented by the yasti).

  • When pilgrims arrive, they circumambulate in a clockwise direction, along the path that circles the structure.

  • Circumambulating activates the sites energy; the more you circle it, the stronger the energy becomes.

  • Mt. Meru is a sacred symbolic mountain for the Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmology that is thought to be the center of all physical, metaphysical, and spiritual worlds.

    • The Sun and Moon would travel around it.

    • The yasti symbolized the axis of the world centered on it.

• Inside the gates, there is a seated Buddha with the top knot on the head, called Ushnisha, that refers to a humble crown.

200. Lakshamana Temple. Khajuraho, India. Hindu, Chandella Dynasty. c. 930 - 950 CE. Sandstone.

• This Hindu temple is dedicated to Vishnu, the preserver of the universe and restorer of moral order.

• Regarded as a sacred place, the temple is a place where believers could connect with the divine.

• The design promotes introspection and the acquisition of the spiritual awareness that all life is interconnected.

• It is made from sandstone blocks using ashlar masonry.

• The main temple has a hypostyle hall with six columns and there are five side chapels in the ambulatory.

  • The cult statue of Vishnu was in the inner sanctum, which barely had enough space for a Hindu priest.

• The Lakshmana Temple uses corbelled arches, a type of arch constructed by overlapping stone with pressure bearing down, can be found on the interior.

  • Built on an east/west axis with the entrance facing east and thus the rising sun.

  • Temple is made of sandstone – soft and easy to carve.

  • Complex stacking of shapes that make up the basic temple shape

  • Temples in North India have a vertical character with large towers.

• The figures in sculptures are curvy and tall, with emphasized curves, particularly breasts/buttocks.

  • The exterior is horror vacui, completely covered with decoration.

• To activate cosmic/divine energy, viewers must circumambulate around the temple in a clockwise orientation; the more you do, the stronger the energy.

  • The theme of the building is preservation, what Vishnu embodies.

    • Preservation is either through sexual prolongation or preservation of human life.

    • Rulers are shown in tantric sex postures, which was viewed as a form of offering to the deities through reproduction.

• Lions are royal symbols who embody strength and power and can be seen on every side of the temple.

• It is flanked by four smaller free-standing temples, called a panchayatana plan.

  • panchayatana plan: a main shrine surrounded by four auxiliary shrines.

• The site represents the mountain, Mount Kailasha with it’s stacked vertical towers.

  • A richly decorated building covered with over 600 gods of the Hindu pantheon.

    • pantheon: a group of particularly respected, famous, or important people. (oxford dictionaries)

  • Mr. Kailasha is located in the Himalayas of Tibet.

• An antarala is a small antechamber or foyer between the garbhagriha(where the deity is housed) and the mandapa (gathering place for worshippers) more typical of north Indian temples.

• There is no distinction between sacred and secular, so depictions of gods, rulers, and sexuality are not strange or inappropriate.

  • The figures are voluptuous and wear crowns and jewels indicating their royal status.

    • Adornment is associated with good fortune and is required for individuals.

• One of the many depictions of idealized female beauty seen on the Lakshmana Temple. They indicate their significance as fertility, growth, and prosperity symbols.

202. Shiva as Lord of Dance (Nataraja). Hindu; India (Tamil Nadu), Chola Dynasty. c. 11th century CE. Cast bronze.

• Present day state of Tamil Nadu, the Chola Dynasty ruled from the 9th to the 13th century C.E. in south India.

  • One of south India's longest-lasting empires, the era ushered in a golden age of travel, trade, and creativity.

  • Metalwork and particularly bronze sculpture, was an area of tremendous innovation during this period of rule.

  • The Chola empire reached all the way to Sri Lanka in the south-east, giving the kingdom access to large copper mines, allowing trained artisans to produce bronze work.

• In Hindu bronze sculptures, the liquid bronze was poured into a mold and then broken out.

• In this sculpture, Shiva is depicted as lord of dance; Shiva dances on a dwarf, the demon of ignorance.

  • A flaming nimbus/halo surrounds Shiva and he has a third eye, symbolizing his omniscience.

  • Shiva’s stylized hair ends in cobra heads, and he appears androgynous.

• It represents how Shiva periodically destroys the entire universe so it can be recreated from the drum held in one of the right hands.

• The body is highly stylized. He has sharp features and is very slender. A cult statue was carried in a procession while priests chanted prayers and offered blessings.

  • In Hinduism, statues are physical representations of the god. Faith of the worshipper ignites the divine force inherent in the statue when they kneels before it to pray, indicating that Shiva is present.

  • A cult statue is a man made object of a deity, person, or spirit. With some religious traditions, cult images may be washed, dressed, and fed on a daily basis.

    • These are common in several religions including the ancient religions of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as well as modern Hinduism.

• Shiva has a round face, almond eyes, and long arms surrounded by a circle of fire.

• Shiva cannot be stopped once he begins the destruction.

  • The raising of his right hands symbolizes that there is no need to be afraid.

  • The lower left hand across his chest represents fulfillment through meditation.

  • The upper left hand holding a flame destroys everything.

• Shiva is the destroyer god, not just of what is evil. All things must end through destruction so that new life can be born.

208. Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings. Bichitr. c. 1620 C.E. Watercolor, gold, and ink on paper.

• Jahangir wanted every moment of his life recorded, so artists followed him everywhere.

• In the work, the emperor sits on an hourglass throne, Bichitr presents him above time and at the center of the universe.

  • The halo behind him is gold and detailed with the sun and its rays and a white crescent moon.

  • Though sands are running out, cupids make an inscription on the hourglass than Jahangir should live a thousand years.

    • The cupids at the base of the hourglass are clothed and those on either side of the top of the composition are traditionally nude cupids as seen in western art.

• Jahangir proves his piety is more than his power.

  • Hindu miniature painting that displays Bichitr talent who mostly worked for elite patrons, in this case it was Jahangir.

  • This is a form of political propaganda that ennobled and aggrandized Jahangir as ruler; it displays his legitimacy and as well as his piety.

  • An implication is that good rulers do what he does: make other rulers wait because his piety comes first. The painting presents his elite status, a timeless legacy. While rulers come to him, they wait in recognition of his superiority.

• The 4 figures at the bottom are carefully placed in hierarchal order with the artist Bichitr and the bottom. To further present Bichitr position, he signed his name on the footstool that Jahangir uses to reach his throne.

  • Bichitr wears a red turban and places himself at the bottom of the composition, occupying the lowest position of the social hierarchy. He holds a painting of two horses, an elephant, gifts from Jahangir. The artist bows in front of the emperor.

  • Jahangir’s father Akbar consulted the Sufi to pray for an heir, his prayers were answered with the birth of Jahangir, and thus he is given the book as a gift. An inscription explains that though Jahangir is surrounded by Kings, he seeks the company of the dervishes, (Islamic holy men) for guidance.

209. Taj Mahal. Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. Masons, marble workers, mosaicists, and decorators working under the supervision of Ustad Ahmad Lahori, architect of the emperor. 1623-1653 C.E. Stone masonry and marble with inlay of precious and semiprecious stones; gardens.

• A monumental tomb for Mumtaz Mahal, the favorite consort of Shah Jahan, fifth ruler of Mughal dynasty.

  • Mumtaz Mahal died of postpartum hemorrhage on June 17, 1631, in Burhanpur, after a 30-hour labor with her 14th child. She had accompanied her husband on a campaign in the Deccan Plateau prior.

• Located on the banks of the sacred river Yamuna, Agra, India.

• The monument is arranged in a char-bagh, or “four plot” plan.

  • The landscape is composed of tree-lined reflecting pools, a water pool, fountains and lush gardens.

  • The staircase to the upper terrace is purposely hidden, providing the illusion of the tomb’s suspension above the water.

• It is carved and inlaid with precious and semiprecious stones.

• The tomb is octagonal; two triple-domed pavilions stabilize and ground the mausoleum.

• A fusion of Islamic, Byzantine, and Hindu architectural elements.