Problems of Chronology in Gandharan Art : Proceedings of the First International Workshop of the Gandhara Connections Project, University of Oxford, 23rd-24th March, 2017

Rienjang, Wannaporn (EDT); Stewart, Peter (EDT)

ISBN 10: 1784918555 / ISBN 13: 9781784918552

Published by Archaeopress Archaeology, 2018

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Seller Inventory # 32955747-n

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Problems of Chronology in Gandharan Art : Proceedings of the First International Workshop of the Gandhara Connections Project, University of Oxford, 23rd-24th March, 2017
• Publisher: Archaeopress Archaeology
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1784918555
• ISBN 13: 9781784918552
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Since the beginning of Gandhāran studies in the nineteenth century, chronology has been one of the most significant challenges to the understanding of Gandhāran art. Many other ancient societies, including those of Greece and Rome, have left a wealth of textual sources which have put their fundamental chronological frameworks beyond doubt. In the absence of such sources on a similar scale, even the historical eras cited on inscribed Gandhāran works of art have been hard to place. Few sculptures have such inscriptions and the majority lack any record of find-spot or even general provenance. Those known to have been found at particular sites were sometimes moved and reused in antiquity. Consequently, the provisional dates assigned to extant Gandhāran sculptures have sometimes differed by centuries, while the narrative of artistic development remains doubtful and inconsistent. Building upon the most recent, cross-disciplinary research, debate and excavation, this volume reinforces a new consensus about the chronology of Gandhāra, bringing the history of Gandhāran art into sharper focus than ever. By considering this tradition in its wider context, alongside contemporary Indian art and subsequent developments in Central Asia, the authors also open up fresh questions and problems which a new phase of research will need to address. Problems of Chronology in Gandhāran Art is the first publication of the Gandhāra Connections project at the University of Oxford’s Classical Art Research Centre, which has been supported by the Bagri Foundation and the Neil Kreitman Foundation. It presents the proceedings of the first of three international workshops on fundamental questions in the study of Gandhāran art, held at Oxford in March 2017.

About the Authors

Wannaporn Rienjang is Lecturer in Archaeology, Museum and Heritage Studies at the Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology, Thammasat University and a project consultant for the Gandhāra Connections Project at the Classical Art Research Centre, Oxford. She completed her doctoral degree in Archaeology at the University of Cambridge in 2017, and has been involved in research projects focusing on the art and archaeology of Greater Gandhāra, Indian Ocean Trade and ancient working technologies of stone beads and vessels.

Peter Stewart is Director of the Classical Art Research Centre and Professor of Ancient Art at the University of Oxford. A specialist in Roman sculpture, he has devoted much of his research to the spread of the classical artistic tradition in and beyond the provinces of the Roman Empire. His publications include Statues in Roman Society: Representation and Response (2003), The Social History of Roman Art (2008) and, together with Wannaporn Rienjang, the edited volumes of the Gandhara Connections project.