"Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan" Exhibition
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World
This event has ended.
A groundbreaking exhibition that unites masterpieces of Chinese sculpture from the famed sixth-century cave temples at Xiangtangshan with the first-ever digitized reconstructions of their original setting opens on September 11, 2012, at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University (ISAW). Based on the most recent scholarship and utilizing advanced imaging technology, the installation provides new insights into the history and original appearance of one of China's most remarkable Buddhist devotional sites.
The majestic temples at Xiangtangshan—carved into mountains in northern China and lavishly decorated with sculpted images of Buddha and other celestial beings—were damaged during the early twentieth century, when many of the carvings were removed. Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan brings together twelve of the finest of these temple sculptures, on loan from American and British museums, and features a full-scale, digital, 3-D reconstruction of the interior of one of the site's most impressive caves.
[Image: Standing Bodhisattva Avalokite vara (Guanyin), Xiangtangshan: Southern Group of Caves, Attributed to Cave 2, 565-577 CE.
Limestone freestanding sculpture with lacquerlike coating, 74 x 20 1/16 x 14 9/16 in. (188 x 51 x 37 cm).
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Purchased from C.T. Loo, 1916 (C113).]
Media
Schedule
from September 11, 2012 to January 06, 2013