Skip Navigation

 

Home > Program on Central Asia > Events > CANCELLED: Reconstituting the Original Contexts of Some Kizil Mural Fragments in Overseas Collections: On the Iconography of Kucha Caves

UCLA Program on Central Asia

CANCELLED: Reconstituting the Original Contexts of Some Kizil Mural Fragments in Overseas Collections: On the Iconography of Kucha Caves

ZHAO LI, Kucha Academy of Xinjiang

Thursday, February 17, 2011
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
10383 Bunche Hall

THIS PRESENTATION HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO FLIGHT DELAYS FROM CHINA. WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE. 

 

Provenance and Reconstruction of Kizil Mural Fragments in Overseas Collections
Zhao Li, Kucha Academy of Xinjiang

In the early twentieth century, visitors from Europe and Asia came to Kucha in the name of scientific exploration. They cut out painted murals inside cave temples, and took away sculptures and written documents. The bulk of these artifacts is now in museum collections in Berlin, Germany, while some are scattered around the world. This study attempts to determine the cave temples from which some of these fragments originally came, and their precise location therein. The findings would correct the mistakes in the documentations left behind by the foreign explorers, and at the same time pave the way for a better understanding of the original pictorial contents of these caves as well as their religious functions and historical significance.

Iconographic Studies on Kucha Murals
Huo Xuchu (presented by Zhao Li)

In the study of Kucha murals, researchers have relied on the iconological method and the Buddhist principle of manifesting the Dharma to analyze the various layers of meanings in the pictures. The lecture will discuss these interpretative schemes and demonstrate their effectiveness in explaining the pictorial renditions of jātakas, avadānas, and life story of the Buddha in relation to Buddhist sectarianism and thoughts.

 

***

Zhao Li is the Deputy Director of the Kucha Academy of Xinjiang. She is the author of a number of publications on Kucha caves, including the Content Catalog of Kizil Caves (Xinjiang Art and Photography Press, 2000).

Tel: (310) 825-0007
eleicester@international.ucla.edu

Sponsor(s): Program on Central Asia, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology

  Save to Outlook Calendar & iCal