MAR/APR 2019

VOLUME 50 - NUMBER 2

In this issue we spotlight the National Museum of Scotland, which opened a new gallery devoted to East Asian art in February. The museum is home to the largest collection of East Asian material in the UK outside London and is unique in presenting works from China, Japan and Korea in one gallery, facilitating an understanding of shared aspects as well as traits distinct to each culture. Rosina Buckland’s article reveals the background to the gallery, which highlights the continued vitality of artistic production in the three cultures, while Qin Cao reinterprets a kingfisher-feather headdress that features in the China display.

We follow with two other articles on Chinese art: a strange seal encountered on two early paintings leads Richard Barnhart on an interesting journey of discovery; meanwhile, Alison Hardie considers how the illustrations for a 17th century play by the poet-official Ruan Dacheng in fact reflect the life of the author himself.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is holding a number of Asian art exhibitions this spring, and we include articles related to two. John Carpenter examines poems and prose excerpts from The Tale of Genji transcribed by esteemed courtier-calligraphers in Momoyama period Japan, and Kurt Behrendt demonstrates the artistic creativity of the Pahari artists of the Punjab Hills in India. Also in New York, Karl Debreczeny explores the intersection of politics, religion and art in Tibetan Buddhism in connection with an exhibition at The Rubin Museum of Art.

Finally, for our ‘Gardens’ series, we turn to Iran, with an article by Lisa Golombek and Robert Mason on the pictorial tiles thought to be from the 17th century garden of the Pavilion of the Stables in Isfahan.

FEATURES
Rosina Buckland. Exploring East Asia at the National Museum of Scotland
Qin Cao. By the Mandate of Heaven: A Kingfisher Headdress in the National Museum of Scotland
Richard M. Barnhart. An Enigmatic Seal and Three Song Flower-and-Bird Paintings
Alison Hardie. ‘A Place Deep Amid Flowers’: Zhang Xiu’s Illustrations to Ruan Dacheng’s Spring Lantern Riddles
John T. Carpenter. Inscribing and Illuminating The Tale of Genji in Momoyama Japan
Kurt Behrendt. Representing the Divine in the Pahari Painting of North India: Giving New Form to Devotional Stories
Lisa Golombek, Robert B. Mason. The Garden of the Pavailion of the Stables, Isfahan
PREVIEWS & REVIEWS
Ina Asim. Book Review. Design by the Book: Chinese Ritual Objects and the Sanli tu by François Louis
NEWS
Matthew Welch. Frederick Baekeland (1928–2017)
Anthony Wu. Chinese Works of Art and Paintings ,Auction Highlights—Autumn 2018
COMMENTARY
Karl Debreczeny. ‘Faith and Empire’: Art, Power and the Right to Rule