detail of back side

Including the two scriptures on the front, the scholar has identified two more scriptures inscribed on the back, making a total of four Buddhist scriptures. However, he was not able to find any names of donors that may have financed the creation of the stele.

detail of back inscription

right side view

This Chinese Buddhist stone stele (see below) is currently in art storage. It probably dates to 550-577 and depicts the Western Paradise of Amitabha. Once disregarded as either a subordinate stele or a much later reproduction, this stele is now gaining renewed scholarly interest.

B63S5+

The particular interest is in the stele’s inscriptions, actually. The most visible inscription is found on the bottom half of the front side. It contains “The Sutra of Buddha Talking about Guan Shi Yin” and “The Buddha Talking about the Heavenly Duke Scripture.” This inscription has been published in a 1974 survey, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage Collection. Interestingly, it was also claimed in this publication that “The back of the stele is plain.”

However, there are inscribed letters on not only the backside of the stele but also on its sides. And speculation among scholars recently has been that the inscription contains an important Buddhist work! A Japanese scholar is coming to examine the stele this Friday. I will be there to learn more and be part of this exciting event.

Do come back to this posting as I will update on any findings!

This is a post from: the blog of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Visit us at www.asianart.org.

UPDATED A Rediscovered Treasure?

By Saturday, August 28th, the city’s sweltering summer heat will yield to a more accustomed winter chill, so we recommend warming up with the Asian Art Museum’s Celebration of India.

Get moving with the Chitresh Das Dance Company, flex your mind and body with yoga gallery tours, sample Indian desserts and spices, and create your own works of art.

And since no fewer than five people have asked about it today, yes, Sanjay Patel will be presenting his new book, Ramayana: Divine Loophole.  Check out his Gheehappy.com, or learn about his influences (he has excellent taste) and read an interview on Pixar’s site.

A huge new shipment of South Asian books just arrived in the Museum Store, so if the docents pique your curiosity, you can take some of the museum home with you.  Namaste!

This is a post from: the blog of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Visit us at www.asianart.org.

Celebrate India

If you didn’t get enough qipao in the Shanghai exhibition (it is a broad survey, after all), I recommend you see what Softfilm was up to at the Hong Kong Museum of History.  Nearly 300 examples of the classic dress are on view and not one that can be tried on–talk about heaven and hell.
Many thanks to Dave for the great photos!

This is a post from: the blog of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Visit us at www.asianart.org.

Meanwhile…

Even those who don’t follow the art market know that major Chinese contemporary art is priced out of the the means of most apartment-dwelling San Franciscans, so the question “How much is it?” is a question not asked casually.

tilt-shifting courtesy of TC

If you’ve seen the Shanghai exhibition, Zhang’s work is the one comprised of bricks from dismantled shikumen, as well as life-sized silicon rubber scholar’s rocks and an unsettlingly flesh-hued vessel.  For those of you who require a little more  background, see this earlier post.

Happy news for those of us who like to buy art and afford lunch, as Zhang has proven in a multiple charting the disappearance of old Shanghai.  His Vestiges of a Process: Shanghai Shikumen, consists of an enevelope of nine photographs of the rapidly disintegrating past and a wee paper boat to help you travel the waters of memory.  Both the folded boat and envelope are fashioned out of a painted composite map of Shanghai showing the restlessness of the landscape.  The best part?  This artist’s work is $15.

(very not-to-scale)

There’s little chance that I’ll ever be able to buy anything that we exhibit in the museum–minus what’s in the museum store.  I’ll take what I can get, until someone wants to gift me one of the great rubber scholars rocks.

This is a post from: the blog of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Visit us at www.asianart.org.

Vestiges of a Process: Shanghai Shikumen

If you’re not up on the history of colonial inequity, let me explain.  The life-sized wooden and mechanical tiger mauling a European unsubtly summarized the Sultan of Mysore’s feelings for East India Company.  For the Tipu, the imagery of the great beast was an essential psychological trope in defeating the infidel British.  He utilized the tiger motif in many facets of his rule, from the uniforms and weaponry of his “tiger soldiers” to coinage and standards.

After Tipu was killed defending his capital in the fourth and final Anglo-Mysore War in 1799, the automaton was taken as a sort of trophy by the East India Company and displayed in their India Museum for the next fifty years.  Visitors were allowed to “play” the mechanism, which produced the sounds of a man being ravaged by a beast.  Now in the collection of the V&A Museum, visitors are no longer allowed to play organ grinder.  Obviously their staff had grown tired of requests to turn the tiger’s crank, hence the clever introduction of the iTiger.

The catalyst for this story, you wonder?  My most recent score at a thrift store.

It's not a tchotchke--it's history.

This is a post from: the blog of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Visit us at www.asianart.org.

Tiger, tiger

Shanghai-ed | Shanghai In a Minute from Joe Nafis on Vimeo.

This is a post from: the blog of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Visit us at www.asianart.org.

Shanghai in a minute

It’s amazing what one finds when cleaning out the closet–even when that closet happens to be a photo-hosting site.

Since I’m at nearly 7000 images and can’t seem to find anything when I look for it, it’s time to do some tagging.  A bit tedious, but a reasonable way to spend a slow Sunday morning, especially given my selective memory.  The best part about going back in time?  Discoveries like this picture I’d taken of a friend’s photograph from a trip to Indonesia (so meta!).

Whereas traditional wayang kulit (shadow theatre) is based on the great Hindu epics, the Ramayana and Mahabarata, this is wayang wahyu, a form that allowed the Jesuits to spread their word through a means more familiar to their Indonesian audiences.  The piece to the right at first looks as though it is the usual kayonan (tree of life) or gunungan (holy mountain) , but look closely and you’ll discover some non-native imagery.
This is definitely not something you’ll see in our upcoming Bali exhibition, but a fascinating aspect of acculturation.  I know a few readers have traveled in Asia–what are your favorite moments of cultural disparity?

This is a post from: the blog of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Visit us at www.asianart.org.

Beyond Good & Evil

Do you collect anything or any type of experience?

I have an amazing collection of stamps in my passport! I save my old passports just because the visas and entry stamps are a wonderful reminder of the trips I have taken. And when I’m travelling, I try to find small boxes and have at least one from each place I visit. I look for a box that evokes the place it’s bought, is handmade and for practical reasons, it needs to be easy to carry. (That being said, I have gotten on airplanes with boxes large enough to elicit a look of exasperation from the flight attendants!) My favorites are a mother-of-pearl box that I bought in Thailand, a beautiful handmade metal box with silver inlay I bought in India, and a box from the souk in Marrakesh that turns into a bracelet.

I also have a collection of beaded belts I bought in tourist gift shops. The best one is from the Trees of Mystery: my rule used to be that they could cost no more than $2.50; that will show you long I’ve been collecting them.

You’ve worked with many high-powered and successful people. Are there any characteristics (or eccentricities) that they have in common?

The most successful people I’ve worked for do have several things in common: They are focused individuals, have an amazing work ethic, can see the long view of most situations, and of course are very, very intelligent. They are also the easiest people to support. After those attributes, they have very different styles and have almost nothing else in common which makes life interesting for me.

In your career what are some of the strangest requests or inquiries you’ve ever received?

• When I worked at Robert Mondavi Winery, we got a letter from a woman that wanted to date Mr. Mondavi. Could our office set up an introduction: UH — no!
• A funny question at a pre-travel meeting during my days as a travel agent was whether the traveler should buy her postage stamps here before she left for her European trip.
• Could I find and buy a 500-gram tin of caviar for a picnic lunch in one hour (approximately $1500!).
• Could I arrange for street parking on Lake Street for a company picnic.
• I had to sign up at Weight Watchers for one boss and go to the weigh-in on a weekly basis to pick up food that was only available to members.
• When I worked as a personal assistant in San Francisco, buying raincoats for all the dogs almost sent me to the loony bin!

Can you tell us about one of your most unforgettable travel experiences?

This moment will stay with me forever: About 15 years ago, I had one day in Zurich all to myself with no plan and no real information about the city. I saw a church (The Fraumünster) and went in to see if there was anything interesting; Someone was playing Bach on the organ and when I turned around to sit down to listen for a few moments there were the most beautiful Marc Chagall windows which had the late afternoon sun streaming through them. I felt transported and sat there until the sun set. I didn’t take any pictures but I will remember every moment.

In what way do you connect most strongly with the museum’s collection?

There are so many parts of the collection that have meaning for me. I’ve travelled to Southeast Asia quite a lot and have had particularly wonderful trips to Vietnam and Laos. Unfortunately, I don’t go as often any more, so visiting those galleries is almost a substitute to actually being there. On a trip to India last year, a palm reader told me that my personal deity is Ganesha, the Elephant-headed God and Remover of Obstacles (and of course I believed him), so I visit his statue at the entrance to the third-floor gallery as often as I can in the hopes that he will help me remove daily obstacles. Just walking through the Himalayan galleries is inspiring for the use of color and the beauty of the Thangkas and the sculpture. The more I learn about our collection, the more I want to know still more about it and to visit countries that are represented here that I have yet to see.

This is a post from: the blog of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Visit us at www.asianart.org.

Tag: Nancy Jacobs

Picard identifies the sculpture as a Song-dynasty work of the 14th century (Data corrects him, claiming the 13th century). However, both of them are off the mark. According to my professional eye, this glazed horse should be from the Tang dynasty (618-907)–it is a quintessential Tang horse. Compare it with this one in the collection of the Asian Art Museum:

Notice the similarities in the glazing colors and the robust form of the horse. The horse was a prized animal in China, especially in the Tang dynasty when it represented the power and might of the empire. The Tang empire is considered to be a golden era in China’s history both in culture and in the military. So it makes sense that Picard would gift the noble Tang horse to Lutan, but I blame the writers of this episode for not having done their homework.  They should have visited the Asian Art Museum!

This is a post from: the blog of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Visit us at www.asianart.org.

If only Picard had visited the Asian Art Museum

Fascinated as we are with the way in which much of spiritual Asia has rocketed to the fore of economics and technology, the well-respected India hand seeks to explain the transformation with his usual elegance.  The event starts at 6, find more information here

(If anyone goes, please fill me in)

This is a post from: the blog of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Visit us at www.asianart.org.

Nine Lives