Steppe and the Silk Roads, China’s Interactions with its neighbours- lectures by Jessica Rawson

Professor Dame Jessica Rawson, DBE, DLitt, FBA Professor of Chinese Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford will deliver a series of lectures in Leiden and Amsterdam between 4-9 May 2015.

Professor Dame Jessica Rawson, DBE, DLitt, FBA is Professor of Chinese Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford. Her research interests involve the archaeology of China and Inner Asia, early Chinese material culture as evidence for religious concepts and beliefs, the development and function of ornament in all parts of Eurasia. Currently, Professor Rawson works on interactions between central China and Inner Asia in the Zhou (c. 1045- 221 BC), Qin (221-210 BC) and Han (206 BC-AD220) periods; on the structure and contents of Chinese tombs; and on exoticism in the Han to Tang periods (200 BC-AD900).

Selected Publications

Treasures of Ancient China, Bronzes and Jades from Shanghai, London, 2009With Evelyn Rawski (eds), China: The Three Emperors, 1662-1795, London Royal Academy Publications, 2005

Chinese Jade, from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum Press, London 1995.

Chinese Ornament, the Lotus and the Dragon. London: British Museum Publications, 1984.


Some recent articles “Carnelian Beads, Animal Figures and Exotic Vessels: Traces of Contact between the Chinese States and Inner Asia, c. 1000-650BC.” Archäologie in China, vol. 1, Bridging Eurasia, 2010, pp. 1-42.

“Reviving Ancient Ornament and the presence of the Past: Examples from Shang and Zhou Bronze Vessels” in Wu Hung (ed.), Reinventing the Past: Archaism and Antiquarianism in Chinese Art and Visual Culture, Chicago: 2010 pp. 47-76.

“The Chinese Hill Censer, boshanlu: a note on Origins, Influences and Meanings”. Ars Asiatiques, Volume en homage á Madame Michéle Pirazzoli t’Serstevens, Vol. 61 2006, pp. 75-86.

“Novelties in Antiquarian Revivals: The Case of the Chinese Ritual Bronzes”, National Palace Museum Research Quarterly vol.22, no.1, Autumn, 2004, pp. 1-34


Published Books 2010
Rawson, J. , (2010), Hung, W. (ed.), Reinventing the Past: Archaism and Antiquarianism in Chinese Art and Visual Culture, Chicago, The Centre for the Art of East Asia, University of Chicago, Art Meia, Resources

Rawson, J., & Gorransson, K. (eds.), (2010), China’s Terracotta Army, Stockholm, Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities

2009
Rawson, J., (2009), Treasures from Shanghai: ancient Chinese bronzes and jades, British Museum Press

Contributions to Edited Books
2010 Rawson, J., (2010), Carnelian beads, animal figures and exotic vessels: traces of contact between the Chinese states and Inner Asia, c. 1000–650BC. : in “Archaeologie in China, Vol. 1, Bridging Eurasia, pp 1–42, Beijing branch of the German Institute of Archaeology, Berlin.

Steppe and the Silk Roads, China’s Interactions with its neighbours

Monday 4 May, Leiden: Warfare, Beauty and Belief, Bridging Eurasia

This talk will introduce my overarching ideas and show how I apply them in different periods to illustrate the ways in which central China was forced to interact, especially with the northern neighbours, introducing new technologies, artefacts and ideas, which China then changed and adapted within Chinese frameworks.

Time: 16.00-17.30 hrs
Venue: National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden

17.30-18.30: Drinks at the National Museum of Ethnology

For this event, please register by 30 April at: amt@leiden.edu

Wednesday 6 May, Leiden: The Lure of Iron and Gold, Interactions with the steppe in the First Millennium BC.

As riding on horseback changed the structure of the lives and warfare of the mobile peoples in Eurasia, all settled states, including central China, were forced to adapt to these challenges and change their own methods of warfare, affecting also society as a whole.

Time: 16.00-17.30 hrs
Venue: Small Auditorium, Academy Building, Leiden University

17.30-18.30: Drinks at the Faculty Club

For this event, please register by 30 April at: amt@leiden.edu

Friday 8 May, Leiden: Sculpture and Stone in the Han dynasty, (206 BC-AD 220)

The early Chinese did not make use of either sculpture and stone, major features of Western Asian city culture.  Following the innovations of the First Emperor and the creation of the Terracotta Warriors, which owed their inspiration to both Western Asia and the steppe, the Han emperors adopted both the sculpture and stone, primarily in burial contexts. These innovations then filtered down to lower levels of the elite, but again in the context of tombs.

Time: 16.00-17.30 hrs
Venue: Small Auditorium, Academy Building, Leiden University

17.30-18.30: Drinks at the Faculty Club

For this event, please register by 30 April at: amt@leiden.edu

Saturday 9 May, Amsterdam: Tents, Tombs and Horse Trade, The Tang (AD 618-906 ) and the Turks

The Tang period is renowned for its glittering court and the so-called Silk Road, bringing many merchants and foreign goods to the capital, Chang’an. The talk will illustrate the very fine artefacts of this period, but will also consider a much wider context. The Tang were embattled with several Turkish empires, at that period occupying large areas of the steppe. The Chinese were forced to purchase horses to engage with these mounted warriors, and they paid for the horses, which indeed came from the steppe, in silk. This silk drove the silk trade, mainly in the hands of an Iranian people, the Sogdians. Today we have much evidence from archaeological excavations of the lives of the Sogdians who settled in China in the sixth to eighth century.  the talk will present the fascinating scenes of these merchants and officials that are documented in carvings on their coffins buried at the capital cities of the Tang. The Tang period, renowned for its art and poetry, is now much better known and even more colourful for the multiple engagements that we now know the court had with its neighbours.

Time: 14.30-16.00 hrs
Venue: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

16.00-17.00: Drinks at the Rijksmuseum

For this event, please register by 30 April at: amt@leiden.edu

The events are organized by Asian Modernities and Traditions. Everyone welcome!