Thursday, 21 June 2012

Buddhism along the Silk Road at the Metropolitan

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Buddhism along the Silk Road

5th–8th Century

June 2, 2012–February 10, 2013

Drawing together objects from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the western reaches of Central Asia—regions connected in the sixth century A.D. through trade, military conquest, and the diffusion of Buddhism—the exhibition illuminates a remarkable moment of artistic exchange. At the roots of this transnational connection is the empire established the end of the fifth century by the Huns (Hunas or Hephthalites) that extended from Afghanistan to the northern plains of India. Although this political system soon disintegrated into chaos, over the next century trade routes connecting India to the western reaches of the Central Asian Silk Road continued to link these distant communities, facilitating ideological exchange and financing the production of Buddhist imagery of great artistic sophistication.

By the fifth century, Buddhism had been thriving in Gandhara and the Swat Valley (northern Pakistan) for six hundred years, financed by the extensive trade that flowed through the Khyber and Karakorum passes. Trade with the Mediterranean began with an overland route established by Alexander the Great in the fourth century B.C. By 50 B.C. maritime routes allowed merchants to sail down the Red Sea and to take advantage of monsoon winds to cross the Arabian Sea and reach ports along the west coast of India. Trade goods were transported along the Indus River up to Gandhara and then to China via routes passing through Afghanistan or over high Himalayan passes and then through Central Asia.

Ancient Tibetan scriptures revived via modern technology

LHASA, June 19 (Xinhua) -- A scripture collection center in the Tibet autonomous region has digitally preserved, printed and published more than 300 ancient Tibetan scriptures with the help of modern technology.

The scriptures have been collected since 2007 at a collection center in the Sera Monastery in the regional capital of Lhasa. Funded by the monastery and Jokhang Temple, the center has employed 14 specialists to assist in the preservation of the ancient documents.

"The scriptures were collected from different monasteries and libraries in Tibet. Most of them are manuscripts and the content is obscure and difficult to understand," said Gyaltsen Jampa, a specialist with the center.

The specialists at the center are acquainted with multiple aspects of Tibetan culture, including literature, Buddhism and music, as the ancient scriptures are diverse in content.

Although many of the documents were given preservative treatments in previous times, a large number of scriptures have been damaged due to human activity and natural disasters, according to Guan Quejia, a researcher at the Institute of Ethnic Studies under the Tibetan Academy of Social Sciences.

Gyaltsen Jampa said many of the scriptures are severely damaged, with some of them illegible.

"When we find a missing page or a blank in the scriptures, we write it on the blackboard and have a discussion about the missing part," said Gyaltsen Jampa.

"It cannot be rewritten unless a final conclusion has been drawn after the discussion. Sometimes, we have to turn to some eminent lamas for help or try to find the missing parts from other monasteries that might have a copy," he added.

After finding the missing parts, the specialists use scanners to store digital versions of the damaged documents, as well as attempt to repair them.

After digitizing the documents, they are printed out for further preservation, Guan said.

The center's work has not only provided valuable materials for monks, Tibetologists and religious scholars, but also made the texts available for a wider range of readers, Guan said.

Sunday, 17 June 2012

New "Old" books on the Digital Silk Road

We added 34 new books to become the collection of 150 books, 39,408 pages.

Mummified human remains found in Ming Dynasty tomb

From: The Journal.ie June 15, 2012

Image: Wei Yonggang/ChinaFotoPress/PA

ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE discovered mummified human remains in a royal tomb belonging to the Ming dynasty.

The well-preserved body of a man was found during excavations of the site in Nanchang city in Jiangxi Province earlier this week. He is believed to be a royal descendant.

The Ming Dynasty ruled from 1368 to 1644 and had its capital in Beijing. The dynasty was the last ruled by ethnic Han Chinese and was replaced by the Shun Dynasty after the fall of Beijing during a rebellion. During its rule, the Ming Dynasty oversaw the construction of part of the Great Wall.

Royal Tomb

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A mummy is seen at a Ming dynasty royal tomb on June 12, 2012. (Photo by Wei Yonggang/ChinaFotoPress/PA)

Chipped Chinese bowl bought for just £65 sells for £1.6 million

A small, chipped bowl that was bought for just £65 has stunned the art world after it sold for over £1.6 million pounds at auction.

Chinese bowl that sold for over 1.6 million pounds at Bainbridge's in Ruislip, Middlesex

The 10 inch diamter dice bowl was a 15th century Ming dynsaty piece of porcelain and exceptionally rare Photo: BNPS

9:57AM BST 08 Jun 2012

6 Comments

The 10 inch diameter dice bowl was a 15th century Ming dynasty piece of porcelain and exceptionally rare.

It was bought by renowned collectors Otto and Gertrude Harriman after World War II when £65 and would have been worth £1,600 in today's money.

The family of the late couple decided to sell it at auction with an estimate of £20,000.

But Chinese bidders went into a frenzy over the blue and white bowl and it went for 84 times that amount at £1.68 million.

And according to experts it would have sold for even more had it not been damaged and chipped on the rim.

It was sold by Bainbridge's auction house in Ruislip, Middlesex – the same saleroom that famously sold a Chinese vase in 2010 for £59 million.

As well as the bowl, a simple looking four inch wide saucer estimated at £600 went under the hammer for £75,000.

The grey-green item dated back to the Song dynasty between 960 to 1279.

A second bowl, also from the Ming dynasty, sold for £850,000 – well above its £60,000 estimate.

The Harrimans – who were from Austro-Hungry but moved to London before the war – acquired a fine collection of Chinese art, part of which was declared as being of national importance.

After the death of Mrs Harriman in 1970, the collection lent to the Nottingham Castle Museum where it has been ever since until the family decided to auction part of it.

The star lot was the blue and white bowl that would have been used in dice games.

It is dated from the Xuande Emperor of the Ming dynasty who ruled between 1425 and 1435.

It was decorated with five-claw dragons among cloud scrolls and was one of 30 lots that went for over three million pounds in total.

Peter Bainbridge, who runs the saleroom, said the bowl was as rare as "hen's teeth".

He said: "This bowl was part of a collection that was put together by Otto and Gertrude Harriman.

"It was a dice bowl used for games, but you wouldn't have shaken it, you would have just rolled the dice in.

"It had a dragon relief on it and is exceptionally rare, and would have been more valuable had there not been some damage.

"It came from an intimate collection that was passed down from the Harrimans and has been on display in Nottingham.

"It was a collection of national importance and when the side of the family that had it died recently it was time to sell.

"The Harrimans bought the bowl from Bluett's in 1948 for £65 and Bluetts had bought it from a General Haughton in 1948 for 25 pounds.

"It has now gone back to China, and it just shows that the market is still very good for the right pieces."

Source: The Telegraph

Horse & Rider - From Homer to Genghis Khan

In the world of the Greeks (1300 - 300 BC) and on the Mongolian steppe (600 - 1400 AD)

Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam 16 May to 16 September 2012

The combined exhibition Horse & Rider - From Homer to Genghis Khan is presented in the Allard Pierson Museum from 16 May to 16 September 2012. The impact of horse and rider on the world of the Greeks and on Central Asia lies at the focus, with two different cultures coming under the microscope: a nomadic and once feared nation from the Asian steppe and a city-based and influential society centred on the Mediterranean that we know as the cradle of our current Western civilisation. These are two highly evocative cultures, with Homer and the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan as iconic opening and closing points. By means of this combined exhibition the Allard Pierson Museum for the first time confronts and combines its own classical collection with finds from a period and region that are not normally covered.

The Greek part of the exhibition shows the rise and use of the horse as mount and status symbol roughly from the Troy described by Homer right up to Alexander the Great, between 1300 and 300 BC. The Mongolian part shows archaeological finds recently excavated from rock graves in Mongolia. These finds from the 7th to 14th centuries AD have been exceptionally well preserved. They include musical instruments, items of clothing, weapons and of course saddles and harnesses. During this period, owing to the introduction of the stirrup, the rise of the steppe peoples reached its apogee in 1206 with the founding of the Mongol Empire by Genghis Khan - one of the largest empires in world history. The exhibition depicts a society in which man and horse work together as a single unit. The exhibition Horse & Rider transports the viewer to two different worlds in which man and horse are inextricably bound up with each other.

To mark the exhibition, a catalogue of the Mongolian part is being published (17.95 euros) along with a special from AP Notifications by the Association of the Friends of the Allard Pierson Museum (6.50 euros). In addition, there is a wide range of associated events, including lectures, guided tours, study days and workshops. Visitors - young and old - will be able to imagine themselves as true inhabitants of the Mongolian steppe in a fully equipped yurt, or traditional nomad tent, complete with appropriate clothing. The Mongolia of today as source of inspiration can be seen in Blue Sky, a selection of photographs and artwork by Matthea van Staden and Jeroen Toirkens.

More than 200 museum artefacts will be presented against a backdrop of life-size antique mosaics and Mongolian steppe landscapes, with 100 of them on loan from the Academy of Sciences of Mongolia. The arresting exhibition design , rich in texture and tangibility , is by Theo Braams. The exhibition has been made possible with the assistance of the LVR LandesMuseum in Bonn, the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (German Ministry for Education and Research) and the Gerda Henkel Foundation.

There is an additional charge of € 3 throughout the Horse & Rider exhibition, period (16 May to 16 September 2012).

For further information/images contact Katja Vermeulen, Communications & PR Allard Pierson Museum, 020-5252555/56,c.m.a.vermeulen@uva.nl
A review copy of the 96-page, richly illustrated publication (ISBN 9789040007439) is available from WBOOKS, 038 4673400,sales@wbooks.com
Horse & Rider - From Homer to Genghis Khan (16 May to 16 September 2012)
Allard Pierson Museum, Oude Turfmarkt 127, Amsterdam, www.allardpiersonmuseum.nl

Centuries-old scripture found in Tibet

Cultural specialists in southwest China's Tibet autonomous region have found more than 100 pages of Tibetan scripture that dates back to the 13th century, local authorities said Wednesday.

Centuries-old scripture found in Tibet.[ Photo / Chinatibetnews.com ]

The document, whose content covers traditional Tibetan medicine and religion, was found at a monastery in Nyemo county on the outskirts of Lhasa last week, said Tashi Gyatso, an official with Lhasa's cultural bureau.

"The pages were loose and the document was incomplete," he said.

But the text, written in black ink and on quality Tibetan paper made of bark fiber, was still legible, he said.

Though the text was written in Tibetan, most of the pages were numbered with Chinese characters, the official said.

"The document was compiled during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), almost800 years ago," said Pempa Tsering, a Lhasa-based specialist on ancient Tibetan literature.

Tashi Gyatso said the local cultural authorities are preparing to include the rare document on China's national list of endangered cultural heritage for special preservation.

The finding was among a total of 853 cultural heritage pieces uncovered in Lhasa over the past year, he said.

"The cultural bureau is making a list of the city's cultural heritage items between 2011 and 2015, in order to better preserve these valuables."

Source: China.org.cn

MONGOLS CHINA AND THE SILK ROAD

Thursday, 21 June 2012