CHAPTER 6

ASIAN ART
ANCIENT NEAR- EASTERN
and Islamic Art

 During ancient period, Artist crafted fine objects &

architects design movements w/ distinctive & political
associations.
 Among the ancient art objects found in the Near-East
are the plaster- covered skulls from Jericho, Jordan.
Dated 7000 BC.
 Oldest monumental building in the Near-East are the
Ziggurats of the Sumerians (3500-2340 BC).
ZIGGURATS
 ZIGGURATS

 It was built by Sumerian's, Babylonians,

Elamintes, Akkadians & Assyrians.
 It is a pyramidal structure with a flat top. It is a
ten story-stepped pyramidal office building.
 There are 32 ziggurats known at and near
Mesopotamia, 28 them are in Iraq & 4 of them
are in Iran.
 The Holy Book of the Islam (KORAN) condemns
the work ship of idols and refers to Allah (The
Arabian Word of God) as the single creator of all.
INDIAN ART
o The art of the Indian subcontinent can be
traced back as early as the Indus Valley
civilization (3000-500 BC),
o An Urban culture that grew up around
Harappa (Pakistan) and other sites in Western
India.
o The Aryans do not seem to have produced
images of gods or living creatures. Only few
artifacts survived since the time of their
dominance, the Vedic Period (1200-500 BC).
HINDU ART
A religious tradition that came to
be known as Hinduism was
associated with the Vedic texts
and Brahmanic practitioners.
Although the Hindu pantheon is
large, many worshipper tend o
focus their prayers either on
Vishnu, the preserver or Shiva,
the destroyer. Elements
associated with fertility are
frequently emphasized in Hindu
figural sculpture, whose sexual
anatomical features are the
exclusive focus of other
artworks.
BUDDHIST ART
 Buddhism is the
second major religion
in India that antedates
Hindu Art, at least in
terms of what survives.
(3 )Basic forms of Buddhism architecture

• Stupa (burial mound)

• Chaityn hall (naïve with a stupa in the apse)
• Vihara (monastic cell & refectory)
 Under the Kushan Dynasty (50-320 AD),
artist began to depict divinity in human form.
Perhaps to reveal the figures in Hindu Art.
 Standard iconography emerged in early
Buddhist imagery.
 Scared signs of Buddha include the urna (a
third eye on the forehead),
 The wheel (chakra) or lotus symbols on the
feet,
 The webbed fingers, and the elongated
earlobes.
 The Buddha is often shown seated in the
meditation or preaching the First Sermon,
or standing. The gesture of his hand
(mudra) conveys particular meaning.
 The most important repository of early
Buddhist paintings is Ajanta, a pilgrimage
site with 29 cave temples in central India.
 During the Qin dynasty (221-207 BC), The
great wall was contracted including a tomb
for the emperor.
 The culmination Buddhism art occurred
early in many classical forms, notably
figure painting. Producing vital but elegant
images. The leading landscape painter was
Wang Wer.
CHINA
ART
 During the Neolithic phase (5000-1766) BC,
much Pottery was made. Bronze ritual
vessel are the most impressive ancient
Chinese art form.
 In the Zhou dynasty (1045-236 BC) Zhou
Bronzes ritual wares. Late Zhou art is
imaginative and refined. Bronze are usually
simple in shape and Inlaid with gold, silver
and semi-precious stone to form abstract
curvilinear patterns of scenes or figures in
landscape.
KOREA
AND
JAPAN
JAPANESE
ART
JAPANESE ART

 Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media,

including ancient pottery, sculpture, ink painting and
calligraphy on silk and paper, ukiyo-e woodblock prints,
kirie, kirigami, origami, and more recently manga -
modern Japanese cartoons - along with a myriad of other
types of works of art. It also has a long history, ranging
from the beginnings of human habitation in Japan,
sometime in the 10th millennium BC, to the present.

 Started with simple pottery and involving into Japanese

anime drawings and cartoons
 JAPANESE PREHISTORY IS
DIVIDED INTO (3)
 Jōmon art (11000?–c 300 BC)
 YAYOI (350-300 AD)
 KOFUN (300-352)
Jōmon art
 Jōmon artThe first settlers of
Japan, the Jōmon people (c
11000?–c 300 BC), named for
the cord markings that
decorated the surfaces of
their clay vessels, were
nomadic hunter-gatherers
who later practiced organized
farming and built cities with
populations of hundreds if not
thousands. They built simple
houses of wood and thatch set
into shallow earthen pits to
provide warmth from the soil.
They crafted lavishly
decorated pottery storage
vessels, clay figurines called
dogū, and crystal jewels.
Yayoi Art

 The next wave of immigrants was the Yayoi

people, named for the district in Tokyo
where remnants of their settlements first
were found. These people, arriving in Japan
about 350 BC, brought their knowledge of
wetland rice cultivation, the manufacture of
copper weapons and bronze bells (dōtaku),
and wheel-thrown, kiln-fired ceramics.
 KOFUN ART
 The third stage in Japanese
prehistory, the Kofun, or
Tumulus, period (c. AD 250–
552), represents a
modification of Yayoi culture,
attributable either to internal
development or external
force. The period is named for
the large amounts kofun
created during this period. In
this period, diverse groups of
people formed political
alliances and coalesced into a
nation. Typical artifacts are
bronze mirrors, symbols of
political alliances, and clay
sculptures called haniwa
which were erected outside
KOREAN
ART
KOREAN ART
 Korean arts during the
Neolithic phase (4000-
I000 BC) consists mainly
of “comb pattern”
pottery. Bronze Age
(600-I00 BC) objects
include bells, mirrors,
and other ceremonial
objects found in tomb.
  the painting, calligraphy, pottery,
sculpture, lacquerware, and other fine or
decorative visual arts produced by the
peoples of Korea over the centuries.
(Although Korean architecture is touched
on here, it is also the subject of a separate
article.)
 That's all …

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