Chinese Steles : Pre-Buddhist and Buddhist Use of a Symbolic Form / Dorothy C. Wong.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wong, Dorothy C., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Stele (Archaeology)--China.

Stele (Archaeology).

China--History--Northern and Southern dynasties, 386-589.

China.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (249 p.)

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, [2004]

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

Buddhist steles represent an important subset of early Chinese Buddhist art that flourished during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period (386-581). More than two hundred Chinese Buddhist steles are known to have survived. Their brilliant imagery has long captivated scholars, yet until now the Buddhist stele as a unique art form has received little scholarly attention. Dorothy Wong rectifies that insufficiency by providing in this well-illustrated volume the first comprehensive investigation of this group of Buddhist monuments. She traces the ancient roots of the Chinese stele tradition and investigates the process by which Chinese steles were adapted for Buddhist use. She arranges the known corpus of Buddhist steles into broad chronological and regional groupings and analyzes not only their form and content but also the nexus of complex issues surrounding this art form-from cultural symbolism to the interrelations between religious doctrine and artistic expression, economic production, patronage, and the synthesis of native and foreign art styles. In her analysis of Buddhism's dialogue with native traditions, Wong demonstrates how the Chinese artistic idiom planted the seeds for major achievements in figural and landscape arts in the ensuing Sui and Tang periods.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Dynastic Chronology

Introduction

Part I. TRADITIONAL CHINESE STELES AND THEIR BUDDHIST ADAPTATION

Chapter One. ANCIENT ROOTS OF THE CHINESE STELE TRADITION

Chapter Two. THE ORIGINS AND RISE OF HAN STELES

Chapter Three. THE ORIGINS OF BUDDHIST STELES UNDER THE NORTHERN WEI

Part II. THE FLOURISHING OF BUDDHIST STELES

Chapter Four. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BUDDHIST STELES

Chapter Five. THE INITIAL FLOURISHING OF BUDDHIST STELES IN SHANXI

Chapter Six. THE MAITREYA FAITH AND HENAN STELES

Chapter Seven. THE SHAANXI SCHOOL: BUDDHIST-DAOIST ELEMENTS AND ETHNIC DIVERSITY

Chapter Eight. BUDDHIST STELES FROM THE GANSU-NINGXIA REGION

Chapter Nine. MONUMENTAL COMPLEX STELES AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS IN MAHA-YA- NA BUDDHIST ICONOGRAPHY

Chapter Ten. SICHUAN BUDDHIST STELES AND THE BEGINNINGS OF PURE LAND IMAGERY IN CHINA

Conclusion. BUDDHIST STELES AS A SYMBOLIC FORM

Notes

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [207]-220) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 28. Aug 2019)

ISBN:

9780824861872

0824861876

OCLC:

878136703