Module Homepage

Module Schedule_updated on 5th Dec

Module Handbook

Zoom Link for Seminars

Discussion Forum

Useful Links

Analysing and Exploring the Arts moodle page

SOAS-Alphawood Asian Art moodle page

SOAS Library homepage

Zoom link for tutorial (Malcolm)

Zoom link for tutorials (Natasha)

Practical Tips & Support

SOAS Student Learning Centre

Signing in to Zoom using your SOAS account

Scheduling and Sharing Meetings on Zoom using your SOAS account

Citations, References and Bibliographies

Managing your reading

Welcome Materials

Introduction to Moodle

Introduction to Panopto

Library Resources Induction - Mr Burzine Waghmar

SOAS Code of Conduct

Library Resources Induction - Mr Burzine Waghmar

Pre-Course Reading

Pre-Course Reading Lists

Pre-Course Readings: Part One

Pre-Course Readings: Part Two

Week 1

Week 1 Tutorials

Week 1 Discussion Forum

Seminar Reading

Week 1 Seminar Prompts

Blair, S. S., &amp; Bloom, J. M. (2003). The Mirage of Islamic Art: Reflections on the Study of an Unwieldy Field. The Art Bulletin, 85, 152–184

Arnold, D. (2020). ‘Writing Art History’ in Art History: A Very Short Introduction (pp. 31-48)

Further Reading

Clunas, C. (2009). ‘Introduction’ in Art in China. Oxford University Press (2nd edition). 9-15

Fong, W. C. (2003). Why Chinese Painting Is History. The Art Bulletin, 85(2), 258–280

Reynolds, C. J. (1995). A New Look at Old Southeast Asia. Journal of Asian Studies, 54(2), 419-446

Sabapathy, TK. (2011). ‘Developing Regionalist Perspectives in Southeast Asian Art Historiography.’ In Chiu, M. and Genoccio, B. (eds), Contemporary Art in Asia: Critical Reader. Cambridge and London: MIT Press. 47-61

Shalem, A. (2013). Transition, Flow, and Divergent Times. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 45(3), 581–584

Extended Reading

Clarke, J. (2021). On the Road Back to Mandalay: The Burmese Regailia – Seizure, Display, and Return to Myanmar in 1964. In L. Tythacott &amp; P. Ardiyansyah (Eds.), Returning Southeast Asia’s Past: Objects, Museums, and Restitution (pp. 111–138)

Shaw, W. (2019). What is 'Islamic' Art?: Between Religion and Perception. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Seminar Recordings

Lecture 1

Lecture 2

Lecture 3

Week 2

Week 2 Tutorials

Week 2 Discussion Forum

Art Historical Approaches to Archaeological Material - Introduction PDF

Seminar Reading

Seminar reading prompt for discussion

Abe, S. (1995). ‘Inside the Wonder House: Buddhist Art and the West’; in Lopez, Donald S. Jr. (ed.), Curators of the Buddha. The Study of Buddhism Under Colonialism. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1995, pp. 63-106

Kopytoff, I ‘The cultural biography of things: commoditization as process.’ In Appadurai, A. ed., The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014: 64-92

Further Reading

Irwin, J. The Sanchi Torso, London: V&amp;A Press, 1976

Kapur, R.C. (2010). Saris of India: Tradition and Beyond. New Delhi: Roli Books, Lustre Press. pp. 13-19 (Introduction)

Extended Reading and Viewing

Cabrera-Lafuente, ‘Collecting Textiles at the Victoria and Albert Museum: first insights (III)’ V&amp;A Blog.

Willis, M, Buddhist Reliquaries from Ancient India, London: British Museum Press, 2000. 12-26, 66-79, Figs. 41-71(unpaginated)

Neer, Richard. “Connoisseurship and the Stakes of Style.” Critical Inquiry 32, no. 1 (2005): 1–26. (see also Analysing and Exploring the Arts, week 7)

Video: Object Biography: The Life of a Concept, Ann-Sophie Lehmann, November 2, 2021, Bard Graduate Research Centre (see also Analysing and Exploring the Arts, week 7)

Seminar Documents

Week 2 Seminar PDF

Seminar Recordings

Lecture 1

Lecture 2

Lecture 3

Week 3

Week 3 Tutorials

Week 3 Discussion Forum

Seminar Reading

Week 3 Seminar Prompts

Chida-Razvi, M. (2019). From Function to Form: Chini-khana in Safavid and Mughal Architecture. South Asian Studies, 35(1), 82–106

Pitelka, M. (2007). ‘Wrapping and Unwrapping Art’ in Mrazek, J. and Pitelka, M. (eds.), What's the Use of Art? Asian Visual and Material Culture in Context, 1 – 21

Further Reading

Harrison-Hall, J. (2016) ‘Early Ceramics: Rethinking the Status of Blue and White’ in Clunas, C. et al. Ming China: Courts and Contacts. 77 – 87

‘Introduction: The Popular Life of Things’ in Lebek, K., &amp; Malinowska, A. (Eds.). (2017). Materiality and Popular Culture: The Popular Life of Things (pp. 1-12). Routledge.

Pierson, S., (2013) ‘Porcelain as Metaphor – Inventing the ‘Ming Vase’ in From Object to Concept: Global Consumption and the Transformation of Ming Porcelain. Hong Kong University Press. 57-81.

Blair, S. S., & Bloom, J. M. (2003). The Mirage of Islamic Art: Reflections on the Study of an Unwieldy Field. The Art Bulletin, 85, 152–184

Clarke, J. (2021). On the Road Back to Mandalay: The Burmese Regailia – Seizure, Display, and Return to Myanmar in 1964. In L. Tythacott & P. Ardiyansyah (Eds.), Returning Southeast Asia’s Past: Objects, Museums, and Restitution (pp. 111–138)

Irwin, J. The Sanchi Torso, London: V&A Press, 1976

Cabrera-Lafuente, ‘Collecting Textiles at the Victoria and Albert Museum: first insights (III)’ V&A Blog.

‘Introduction: The Popular Life of Things’ in Lebek, K., & Malinowska, A. (Eds.). (2017). Materiality and Popular Culture: The Popular Life of Things (pp. 1-12). Routledge.

Gruber, C., Ghanea Bassiri, K., & Bigelow, A. (n.d.). In Conversation with Christiane Gruber on Material Islamic Studies. MAVCOR Journal.

Bloembergen, M., & Eickhoff, M. (2013). Exchange and the Protection of Java’s Antiquities: A Transnational Approach to the Problem of Heritage in Colonial Java. The Journal of Asian Studies, 72(4), 893–916.

Hudaya K (2022) ‘The Scheme of Borobudur’ in The Creative South: Buddhist and Hindu Art in Mediaeval Maritime Asia, eds Andrea Acri & Peter D. Sharrock, ISEAS Publishing, Singapore.

Low, S. M. (2017). Spatializing Culture: The Ethnography of Space and Place. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Bal, M., & Bryson, N. (1991). Semiotics and Art History. The Art Bulletin, 73(2), 174–208.

Osborne, R., & Tanner, J. (2007). Art’s agency and art history. Blackwell Pub. Introduction. Ebook

Hong, S and Chang CS, ‘Peace under Heaven: Confucianism and Painting in Early Joseon Korea’ in Lee, S., Haboush, J. K., Hong, S., Chang, C.-S., & Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.). (2009). Art of the Korean Renaissance, 1400-1600.

Leidy, D. ‘Buddhism and Buddhist Sculpture in China: A Brief Overview’ in: Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), Leidy, D. P., Strahan, D. K., Becker, L., & Rizzo, A. (2010).