Volume 21 – Number 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Detail of one of four temple columns

14th century

Wood of the verbena family

Honolulu Academy of Arts

Gift of Mrs Charles M. Cooke, Sr., 1931, 3477

(Photography by Tibor Franyo)

To celebrate Orientations twentieth anniversary, the January 1990 issue is appropriately dedicated to Alexander Soper, Professor Emeritus, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and Editor of Artibus Asiae, whose pinoeering contributions to the study of Asian art have inspired students and other scholars for more than five decades. Apart from his monumental work on the Six Dynasties period in China, Professor Soper is responsible for opening up major new spheres of interest in both Chinese and Japanese art and in the Buddhist arts of ancient northern India and Central Asia. In honour of the 85th anniversary of his birth, Alexander Soper's students have contributed a number of articles for this issue that reflect the wide range and scope of their scholarship and serve as a lasting tribute to their mentor.