Beyond EuropeanTradition Powerpoint

South and Southeast Asia after 1200

By:

Nilay ShahNikhil MadanRaghav Verma

Significance of Islam across the Indian subcontinent

After 1200, a new faith-Islam- rose to prominence. Arab armies first appeared in South Asia at Sindh in present day Pakistan in 712. With them came Islam, the new religion that had already spread with astonishing speed from the Arabian Peninsula to Syria, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, North Africa, and even southern Spain. The Ghorids and other Islamic rulers gradually transformed South Asian society, religion, and art

Relationship of Indian architecture to religious practice

Qutb al-Din Aybak built a great congregational mosque at Dehli, in part with pillars taken from Hindu and other temples. It contained the Qutb Minar, the tallest extant minaret in the world. The principal function of a minaret was to provide a platform from which to call the Islamic faithful to prayer.

The Lotus Mahal was another structure influenced by Islamic art. It boasts imposing temples to the Hindu gods in the Dravida style of southern India. However, the windows of the upper level as well as the arches of the ground-floor piers have the distinctive multilobed contours of Islamic architecture. The Lotus Mahal exemplifies the stylistic crosscurrents that typify much of South Asian art and architecture of the second millennium.

Impact of Mughal Empire on Indian art

The first great flowering of Mughal art and architecture occurred during the long reign of Akbar.

Akbar was admirer of the narrative paintings produced at court of Shah Tahmasp in Iran. When Akbar succeeded his father, he oversaw and imperial workshop of Indian painter under the direction of the two Iranians. Akbar enlarged their number and kept them busy working on a series of ambitious projects.

The illustrated books and engravings that traders, diplomats, and Christian missionaries brought from Europe to India also fascinated Akbar. Monumental tombs also had a long history in Islamic architecture and found themselves in Indian architecture under the Mughal Empire.

Role of British on art of India

The Victoria Terminus built in India was made of the same local sandstone used for temples throughout India’s history but was an European transplant to the subcontinent. Many Indians readily adopted trappings of European society. Jaswant Singh, the ruler of Jodhpur, chose to sit on and ordinary chair rather than a throne, characteristic of the British. However, western culture never supplanted India’s own rich traditions. Photography was also introduced to India at an early date, 1840. They readily adopted the new medium, not just to produce portraits but also to record landscapes and monuments

Impact of Buddhism on art and architecture in Thailand

Two prominent Buddhist kingdoms came to power in Thailand. One was the Sukhotai kingdom. Scholars regard the Sukhothai period as the golden age of Thai art; it was described as a city of monasteries and many images of the Buddha. Sukhothai’s crowning artistic achievement was the development of a type of walking Buddha statue displaying a distinctively Thai approach to body form. The Sukhothai artists intended the body type to suggest a supernatural being and to express the Buddha’s beauty and perfection.

A second distinctive Buddha image is the Emerald Buddha. The sculpture conforms to the ancient type of the Buddha seated in meditation in a yogic posture with his legs crossed and his hands in his lap, palms upward. It’s nature as a gemstone gives it a special aura. The combination of the sacred and the secular in the small image explains its symbolic power.

Relationship between Chinese and Vietnamese Ceramic traditionsChina directly controlled Vietnam for a thousand years,

and early Vietnamese ceramics closely reflected Chinese wares. But during the Ly and Tran dynasties, when Vietnam had regained its independence, Vietnamese potters developed an array of ceramic shapes, designs, and glazes that brought their wares the highest levels of quality and creativity.

A 17th century Vietnamese dish with two mynah birds on a flowering branch reveals both the potter’s debt to china and how the spontaneity, power, and playfulness of Vietnamese painting contrast with the formality of Chinese wares.

Comparative Analysis Pictures

Walking Buddha

Artemision Zeus

Comparative Analysis

Name: Emerald Buddha

Date: 15th Century A: Unknown

P/S: Thailand; Buddha depicted in traditional meditative posture - legs crossed, hands in lap, palms upward

M/T: Green Jade (or Jasper) – subtractive method. Dressed in monk’s robes or king’s robes

F: Gem gives statue special aura. Believed that it allowed the universal king, or chakravartin,who possessed the statue to bring rains. Also, depiction of Buddha as a King fulfills his royal destiny

C: Said to have been covered by plaster->lightning bolt exposed green->passed trough the hands of many Kings and cities in N. Thailand an Laos for over 300 years. Now it is in Bangkok in the possession of the Thai royal dynasty.

DT: Royal/Spiritual, traditional yogic pose

Ideas: Combines sacred and secular role of Buddha (very symbolic) ->symbolizes that the Thai King who has the statue has both secular and religious authority

Name: Taj Mahal

D: 1652-1647

P/S: Mughal (Islamic archetecture)

A: Commissioned by Emperor Shah Jahan

M/T: White marble; Inside lined with stones

F: Mausoleum for Shah Jahan’s wife Mumtaz Mahal. Today, it is his tomb as well

C: Stands at one end of a garden filled with tree-lined reflecting pools

D/T: Central structure is dome on cube. Iranian arcuated niches create impression of translucency due to play of shadow and light. Seems to “float” over the pools. Pointed arches draw eyes towards the taj. Wide as it is tall.

Ideas: Minarets are like ladders reaching to heaven and the gardens of Paradise. Taj Mahal is like the throne of God—and the most revered place of burial is beneath the throne of God.

N: Jahangir Prefering a Sufi Shayk to Kings

D: ca 1615-1618

P/S: Mughal, miniature painting. Has influence of European and Persian styles

A: Bichitr, commissioned by Jahangir

M/T: Opaque watercolor on paper

F: Allegorical painting portrays Jahangir in both words and pictures as favoring spiritual power over worldly power.

C: British ambassadors and merchants were frequent visitors to Mughal Capital->influence can be seen in hourglass painting and picture of King James I

D/T: Very symbolic. Bordered. A blend of many cultures. Many repeated motifs. Overall, Bichitr used cool colors.

Ideas: Jahangir seated above time (hourglass). Halo of golden sun and crescent moon->Jahangir center of universe and the source of light. Spatial organization of four men also portrays their place in the social hierarchy. Bichitr signed his name on footstool->indication of inferiority.