Places > Asia
Asia
Basics to get you started
The historical Buddha
Four Buddhas at the American Museum of Natural History
Images of enlightenment: aniconic vs. iconic depictions of the Buddha in India
A brief history of the cultures of Asia
A brief history of the art of South Asia: Prehistory–c. 500 C.E.
Exploring Color in Mughal Paintings
The making and worship of Ganesha statues in Maharashtra
Submerged, burned, and scattered: celebrating the destruction of objects in South Asia
An interview with Rahul Jain
An interview with Waqas Khan
An interview with Noor Ali
Inside Manish Arora’s Studio
The Artist Project: Shahzia Sikander
An interview with Sheba Chhachhi
Naeem Mohaiemen
An interview with Dayanita Singh
An interview with Sunil Gupta
An interview with Sheela Gowda
Painting in Mithila, an introduction
Recording and representing India: the East India Company’s landscape practices
Understanding divine “blueness” in South Asia
Geographic regions of South Asia
Cultural diversity in East Asia
Ceramic innovation in East Asia
Sultanate art and architecture, an introduction
Indian Artists and the British East India Company
Gandharan sculpture
Imperial splendour: textiles and royal life
How to recognize the Buddha
Expressions and experimentations: textiles in visual art
Freedom Movement: textile practices and the making of a nation
From handmade to factory made: industry, trade and handcrafted traditions
Containers of confluence: imagery on painted and printed textiles
Warding off the evil eye: talismanic textiles
Secrets of the trade: inherited traditions
Dress and diversity: costumes traditions of the Indian subcontinent
Mastering color: natural dyes of the Indian subcontinent
Motifs and patterns: fundamentals of design vocabulary
Working jade
Chinese Buddhist cave shrines
Chinese jade: an introduction
Chinese porcelain: production and export
Chinese porcelain: decoration
Chinese landscape painting
The Case for Ai Weiwei
Lang Jingshan and early Chinese photography
Chinese calligraphy, an introduction
An interview with Au Ho-nien
Mountings of Chinese paintings: scrolls, fans, and leafs
Chinese scholar-painters, an introduction
Xu Zhen – ‘Artists Change the Way People Think’
Art in the Mao era and Cultural Revolution, an introduction
Japanese art: the formats of two-dimensional works
A brief history of the arts of Japan: the Jomon to Heian periods
A brief history of the arts of Japan: the Kamakura to Azuchi-Momoyama periods
A brief history of the arts of Japan: the Edo period
A brief history of the arts of Japan: the Meiji to Reiwa periods
Jōmon period, an introduction
Yayoi period, an introduction
Kofun period, an introduction
Asuka period, an introduction
Nara period, an introduction
Heian period, an introduction
Kamakura period, an introduction
Nanbokuchō and Muromachi periods, an introduction
Azuchi-Momoyama period, an introduction
Edo period, an introduction
Meiji period, an introduction
Taishō period, an introduction
Shōwa period, an introduction
Heisei period, an introduction
Jōmon pottery
Royal palaces of Seoul
Conserving Korean lacquer
Royal tombs of the Joseon Dynasty
Sotheby’s Returns Looted 10th Century Statue to Cambodia
The Looting of Cambodian Antiquities
Thai Buddhist monasteries
Sacred arts of Tibet
The making of a thangka painting
The Mughal painting tradition: an introduction
Conservation: Korean lacquer
Amorites, an introduction
Canaanites, an introduction
Hittites, an introduction
The rise of the Ottoman Empire
Photography in 19th-century India
Sasanian art, an introduction
Illumination of the Qur’an
Mosaics in the early Islamic world
Gold in the Qur’an
Shirin Neshat, ‘Dreams Are Where Our Fears Live’
Pre-Islamic Arabia
Ah Xian artist interview
Fahrelnissa Zeid – ‘She Was the East and the West’
Lee Ufan
About chronological periods in the Islamic world
Akkad, an introduction
Arts of the Islamic world
Assyria, an introduction
Assyrian Sculpture
Babylonia, an introduction
Cultural heritage at risk: Cambodia
Cultural heritage at risk: Iraq
Cuneiform, an introduction
Jewish history 1750 to WW II
Jewish history in the post-war period
Ancient Persia, an introduction
Modern art and reality
Mona Hatoum – ‘Nothing Is a Finished Project’
Paleolithic art, an introduction
Sumer, an introduction
The Babylonian mind
The Neolithic revolution
The Safavids, an introduction
Visiting Babylon
Ancient Babylon: excavations, restorations and modern tourism
Damnatio memoriae—Roman sanctions against memory
Byzantine art, an introduction
Byzantine Iconoclasm and the Triumph of Orthodoxy
Ancient Egypt
Cross-cultural artistic interaction in the Middle Byzantine period
Creation myths and form(s) of the gods in ancient Egypt
Multilingualism along the Nile
Materials and techniques in ancient Egyptian art
Middle Byzantine secular art
Looking east: how Japan inspired Monet, Van Gogh and other Western artists
Jewish history to the middle ages
Contemporary art, an introduction
The vita icon in the medieval era
Musical imagery in the Global Middle Ages
Ancient Greece, an introduction
The mummification process
The kingdom of Aksum
The Black Death
Early Christianity, an introduction
How to paint like Yayoi Kusama
Porcelain, gold, and the Dutch East India Company
Rome’s history in four faces at The Met
An interview with artist Ogawa Machiko
The Case for Yoko Ono
Beliefs made visible: Buddhist art in South Asia
Beliefs made visible: Hindu art in South Asia
Challenges, opportunities, and approaches for studying South Asian art
Cultural heritage at risk: Syria
Cultural heritage at risk: Turkey
Trade in East Asia
The global Baroque, an introduction
Impressionist color
Impressionist pictorial space
The Umayyads, an introduction
Mycenaean art, an introduction
Byzantine architecture during Iconoclasm
Early Christian art and architecture after Constantine
The lives of Christ and the Virgin in Byzantine art
The medieval calendar
Ancient Roman art, an introduction
Architecture and liturgy
Greek Vase-Painting, an introduction
Innovative architecture in the age of Justinian
Contrapposto explained
Egyptian Social Organization—from the Pharaoh to the farmer (Part 1)
Wearable art in Byzantium
What does “Impressionism” mean?
What were the crusades?
Women in Roman art
Writing Cuneiform
Ancient and Byzantine mosaic materials
Illuminating the Psalms in Byzantium
Illumination of Jewish biblical texts
Late Byzantine church architecture
Art Appreciation: Power—comparisons and connections
Comfort and utility: textiles in everyday life
The impact of the crusades
Danh Vo Interview: Art Should Estrange
What can be done to protect cultural heritage?
Seizure of Looted Antiquities Illuminates What Museums Want Hidden
Trafficking the past
Embroidery traditions in British-colonial South Asia
Lost-wax metal casting
Buddhist monasteries
Who’s who? How to recognize saints…
An interview with Maryam Hoseini
Book illumination in the Eastern Mediterranean
Discovering Sacred Texts: Hinduism
Cross-cultural artistic interaction in the Early Byzantine period
The origins of Byzantine architecture
Expression and modern art
A Global Middle Ages through the Pages of Decorated Books
Early Byzantine architecture after Constantine
Byzantine architecture and the Fourth Crusade
Late Byzantine secular architecture and urban planning
Common types of mosque architecture
Medieval churches: sources and forms
Middle Byzantine church architecture
Middle Byzantine secular architecture and urban planning
Paintings in the early Islamic world
How was crusading justified?
Ancient West Asia: Cradle of civilization
Regional variations in Middle Byzantine architecture
Tiny timeline: ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in a global context, 2nd–1st millennia B.C.E.
Tiny timeline: ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in a global context, 5th–3rd millennia B.C.E.
Visions of Paradise in a Global Middle Ages
Pilgrimage souvenirs
Arts of the Islamic world: The early period
Arts of the Islamic world: The later period
Arts of the Islamic world: The medieval period
Mother, nation, icon: picturing territory and belonging in South Asia
Connected to the cosmos: sacred textiles
The Geometric period, an introduction
Art Appreciation: Religion—comparisons and connections
Art Appreciation: Nature—comparisons and connections
A Mughal masterclass: how to make paint pigments from stones
Textiles and worship: the image of God
Works of Art
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Ai Weiwei, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, 1995 (photo: © Ai Weiwei)
Periods, Cultures, Styles
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Qajar
1779–1909
Jōmon period
c. 10,500–300 B.C.E.
Ancient West Asian
c. 5000 B.C.E.–651 C.E.
Canaanite
c. 4500–1150 B.C.E.
Arabian
c. 4500 B.C.E.–610 C.E.
Sumerian
c. 5500–2004 B.C.E.
Indus Valley Civilization
c. 2600–1900 B.C.E.
Amorite
c. 2400–1500 B.C.E.
Akkadian
c. 2334–2193 B.C.E.
Neo-Sumerian (Ur III)
c. 2112–2004 B.C.E.
Babylonian
c. 1894–539 B.C.E.
Palmyra
c. 1800 B.C.E.–273 C.E.
Shang dynasty
c. 1600–1050 B.C.E.
Hittite
c. 1400–1200 B.C.E.
Vedic
c. 1500–500 B.C.E.
Zhou dynasty
c. 1050–221 B.C.E.
Western Zhou dynasty
c. 1046–771 B.C.E.
Eastern Zhou dynasty
770–256 B.C.E.
Persian (Achaemenid Empire)
c. 550–330 B.C.E.
Nabataean
323 B.C.E–105 C.E.
Mauryan
c. 321–232 B.C.E.
Dura-Europos
c. 300 B.C.E.–256 C.E.
Yayoi period
c. 300 B.C.E.–300 C.E.
Parthian
247 B.C.E.–224 C.E.
Qin dynasty
c. 221–206 B.C.E.
Han dynasty
206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.
Kushan Empire
c. 2nd century B.C.E.–3rd century C.E.
Three Kingdoms period
57 B.C.E.–676 C.E.
Period of Division
220–589 C.E.
Sasanian
224–651 C.E.
Cham
c. 300–1471
Kofun period
c. 3rd century–538 C.E.
Gupta dynasty
c. 320–647 C.E.
Early Byzantine
c. 330–843
Byzantine
c. 330–1453
Hunnic
c. 300–500 C.E.
Northern Wei dynasty
386–534 C.E.
Asuka period
538–710
Northern Qi dynasty
550–577 C.E.
Tang dynasty
618–907
Unified Silla period
668–935
Nara period
710–794
Heian period
794–1185
Chola Empire
c. 850–1279
Middle Byzantine
c. 843–1204
Liao dynasty
907–1125
Five Dynasties period
907–979
Fatimid
909–1171
Goryeo dynasty
918–1392
Song dynasty
960–1279
Ghaznavid
977–1186
Seljuk
1040–1307
Kamakura period
1185–1333
Mongol Empire
1206–1368
Fourth Crusade and the Latin Empire
c. 1204–61
Delhi and Deccan Sultanates
13th–late 17th century
Mamluk Sultanate
1250–1517
Ilkhanid
1258–1335
Late Byzantine
1261–1453
Yuan dynasty
1271–1368
Ottoman
1298–1924
Nambokuchō period
c. 1333/34–92
Ming dynasty
1368–1644
Timurid
1370–1506
Muromachi period
1392–1573
Joseon dynasty
1392–1897
Post-Byzantine
1453 and after
Safavid
1501–1736
Mughal
1526–1858
Azuchi-Momoyama period
1573–1615
Edo period
1615–1868
Qing dynasty
1644–1911
British Raj
1857–1947
Meiji period
1868–1912
Roman Republic
c. 509–27 B.C.E.
Ancient Mediterranean
c. 5000 B.C.E.–400 C.E.
The Crusades
c. 1095–1291
Early Roman Empire
c. 27 B.C.E.–117 C.E.
Ancient Roman
c. 753 B.C.E.–410 C.E.
Geometric period
c. 1100–700 B.C.E.
Protoarchaic
c. 700–600 B.C.E.
Archaic
c. 600–480 B.C.E.
Early Classical
480–450 B.C.E.
Vijayanagara empire
1336–1646
Ayyubid
1171–1260
Zand dynasty
1751–94
Baekje
18 B.C.E.–660 C.E.
Angkor Period
802–1432
Ayutthayan period
1351–1767
Sātavāhana dynasty
late 2nd century B.C.E.–early 3rd century C.E.
Japanese colonial period
1910–45
Sixteen Kingdoms
304–439
Portuguese Colonial
c. 16th–18th century
Indo-Portuguese
Heisei period
1989–2019
Shunga Empire
c. 185–73 B.C.E.
Cultural Revolution period
1966–76
Mao era
1949–66
Socialist Realism
1934–91
Pallava kingdom
3rd–9th century
Đông Sơn
Iron Age India
Gandharan
c. 2nd century B.C.E.–8th century C.E.
Silla Kingdom
c. 57 B.C.E.–668 C.E.
Goguryeo Kingdom
Hoysala dynasty
1000–1346
Lý dynasty
1009–1225
Tibetan
to today
Colonial South Asia
Chandella period
10th–13th century
Pala Empire
750–1161
Javanese
Rinpa
c. 1600–1750
Mature Harappan Period
c. 2600–1900 B.C.E.
Cirebon Sultanate
c. 16th–17th century
Majapahit Kingdom
c. late 13th–late 15th century
Sukhothai
14th–16th century
Anuradhapura
Nayak dynasty
16th–17th century
Chakri dynasty
1782–today
Quraysh
c. 2nd century C.E.–today
Kalachuri kingdom
c. 6th–7th century
Vākāṭaka dynasty
c. 250–500 C.E.
Samanid
809–1005
Iznik
c. 1400–1600
Malayali
15th century–today
Rattanakosin Kingdom
1782–1932
Middle Roman Empire
c. 117–235 C.E.
Late Roman Empire
c. 235–410 C.E.
Ancient Aegean
c. 3200–1050 B.C.E.
Ancient Egyptian
c. 5000 B.C.E.–395 C.E.
Dutch East Indian
1800–1949
Late Classical
400–323 B.C.E.
High Classical
450–400 B.C.E.
Hellenistic
323–31 B.C.E.
Impressionism
c. 1870–1920
Art Nouveau
c. 1880–1910
Aksumite
c. 100 B.C.E.–1000 C.E.
Abbasid
750–1258
Assyrian
c. 1365–609 B.C.E.
Umayyad
661–750
Mycenaean
c. 1600–1050 B.C.E.
Medieval
c. 330–1453
Shōwa period
1926–89
Taishō period
1912–26
Maratha Empire
1674–1818
Sunga
c. 2nd–1st century B.C.E.
Ancient Greek
c. 1100–31 B.C.E.
Kassite
c. 1600–1000 B.C.E.
Pahari
c. 17th–early 19th century
Brutalist
1960s–70s
Asmat
prehistoric–today
Newar
Korean Empire
1897–1910
Śailendra Dynasty
c. 750–850
Pop Art
c. 1956–1975 and after
Prehistoric
before 2000 B.C.E.
Paleolithic
before 10,000 B.C.E.
Neolithic
c. 10,000–2000 B.C.E.
Korean Bronze Age
c. 10th–3rd century B.C.E.
Celtic
c. 600 B.C.E.–100 C.E.
Postcolonial
1776–the present
Modernisms
c. 1900–1980
International Style
c. 1920–1980
Late Modernism/Postmodernism
1962–today
Contemporary
1980–today
Conceptual art
c. 1960–70 and after
Republic of China period
1912–49
Sumatran
to today
