1. West and Central Asia

2. First! African Art Assignments  7 groups are needed: 5 groups of 3; 2 groups of 4  Image Set Presentations on Monday- snapshot/C2F2/Identifiers  Choices:  Veranda post of enthroned king and senior wife  Reliquary figure (Fang people, South Cameroon)  Aka elephant mask (2 images)  Lukasa (memory board- 2 images)  Ikenga (shrine figure)  Bundu mask (2 images)  Portrait mask (Mblo- 2 images)

3. Essential Knowledge  Vast area culturally: includes the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant, Anatolia, Greater Iran, Central Asia, Inner Asia, and Himalayan Asia  Shifting political boundaries  Forms the heart of the Silk Route that connected Greco-Roman with China and India

4. Essential Knowledge  Arts attest to the varied cultural and political influences: Islam and Buddhism, Hellenistic architecture, Buddhist sculpture, Persian art, and ceramic tile decoration.  West Asia is the cradle of arts produced in regions with a dominant Islamic culture. The arts are both religious and secular.  The arts of West and Central Asia were created for and acquired by local and global patrons. Audiences were royalty, wealthy patrons, lay and monastic religious practitioners, and foreign collectors.  Trade, especially textiles, was paramount to art.

5. Essential Knowledge  The architecture is most often religious in nature. (mosques)  Pilgrimage is an important part of religious practice in Islam and Buddhism.

6. Enduring Understanding  Figural art is a primary form of communication in Buddhist communities in Central Asia.  Conversely, Islamic art that is created for religious purposes, does not contain figural imagery. Text, calligraphy, is a primary form of communication.  Figural imagery is abundant in secular Islamic art.  Art in West Asia tends to be two-dimensional  Ceramics, metallurgy, textiles and painting are all present.

7. Treasury and Great Temple (*IS- 3 images)

8.  http://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the- scenes/streetview/treks/petra/#streetview http://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the- scenes/streetview/treks/petra/#streetview  Petra, Jordan  Nabateean Ptolemaic and Roman  C. 400 BCE- 100 CE  Cut Rock  The prominence of the tombs in the landscape led many early explorers and scholars to see Petra as a large necropolis (cemetery); however, archaeology has shown that Petra was a well-developed metropolis with all of the trappings of a Hellenistic city.

9. Treasury and Great Temple (*IS- 3 images)  Many of the tombs contain niches or small chambers for burials, cut into the stone walls. No human remains have ever been found in any of the tombs, and the exact funerary practices of the Nabataeans remain unknown.  The dating of the tombs has proved difficult as there are almost no finds, such as coins and pottery, that enable archaeologists to date these tombs  Today scholars believe that the tombs were probably constructed when the Nabateans were wealthiest between the second century B.C.E. and the early second century C.E.  The few surviving inscriptions in Nabataean, Greek, and Latin tell us about the people who were buried in the tombs.

10. Treasury and Great Temple (*IS- 3 images)  The Treasury’s façade most clearly embodies the Hellenistic style and reflects the influence of Alexandria, the greatest city in the Eastern Mediterranean at this time. Its architecture features a broken pediment and central tholos (a circular building) on the upper level; this architectural composition originated in Alexandria. Ornate Corinthian columns are used throughout. Above the broken pediments, the bases of two obelisks appear and stretch upwards into the rock. Greek, Assyrian, and Egyptian gods are present on the façade.

11. Treasury and Great Temple (*IS- 3 images)  There are no inscriptions or ceramic evidence associated with the tomb that allows us to date it. Considering that it was located at the most important entrance to Petra, it was probably a tomb for one of the Nabataean Kings. Aretas IV (reigned, 9 B.C.E. – 40 C.E.) is the most likely candidate, because he was the Nabataeans’ most successful ruler, and many buildings were erected in Petra during his reign.

12. The Buddha (*IS- 2 images)

13.  https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/ap-art- history/west-and-central-asia/v/bamiyan-ten-years-on https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/ap-art- history/west-and-central-asia/v/bamiyan-ten-years-on  Bamiyan, Afghanistan  Gandharan (Pakistan)  C. 400- 800 CE; destroyed in 2001  Cut rock with plaster and polychrome paint (some gold)  1 st colossal Buddhas  Niche forms a halo  Cave galleries weave through the cliffs; some painted with wall paintings.

14. The Buddha (*IS- 2 images)  Prior to their recent destruction, the 6th-7th century, rock-cut Buddha sculptures in the Bamiyan Valley of central Afghanistan were considered the largest in the world.  Like many of the world’s great ancient monuments, little is known about who commissioned the Bamiyan Buddhas or the sculptors who carved them. However, their very existence points to the importance of the Buddhist faith and the Bamiyan Valley during this period.

15. The Buddha (*IS- 2 images)  Bamiyan’s central location along the Silk Route, along with its fertile plains amid harsh terrain, made it an ideal location for merchants and missionaries to stop during their travels. Many of the missionaries and merchants in this area during the middle of the first millennium were practitioners of the Buddhist faith.  Prior to their destruction in 2001, two monumental Buddha sculptures could be seen carved into the cliff facing the Bamiyan Valley. The larger of the two figures, located on the western end measured 175 feet in height. he smaller of the two monumental statues, located to the east, depicted the Buddha Shakyamuni. This figure was also enormous and measured 120 feet in height.  Both images were carved into niches of the cliff side in high relief. The area near the heads of both Buddha figures and the area around the larger Buddha’s feet were carved in the round, allowing worshippers to circumambulate.

16. The Buddha (*IS- 2 images)  The two large Buddha images reflected the international environment of the Bamiyan Valley and were influenced by the art and cultures of India, Central Asia and even ancient Greek culture. For example, both Buddhas wore flowing robes and have been described as having wavy curls of hair. This hairstyle and the flowing drapery are elements rooted in early Gandharan Buddhist imagery that combined Hellenistic Greek traditions of representation with Indian subject matter.

17. The Buddha (*IS- 2 images)  Mullah Omar ordered Taliban forces to demolish the Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001. The destruction was complete. Only outlines of the figures and a few details remain. The direction to destroy the Buddha images was motivated, in part, by the Taliban’s extreme iconoclastic campaign as well as their disdain for western interest and funding that had gone to protecting the images while there was an intense and growing need for humanitarian aid in the region. The Taliban’s claim that destroying the Buddha sculptures was an Islamic act is belied by the fact that Bamiyan had become predominantly Muslim by the 10th century and that the sculptures had up until 2001 remained a largely intact.  The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas was a huge loss for our understanding of human history. However, even in darkness light has a way of emerging. Since their destruction several new discoveries have been made near the sites of the Bamiyan Buddhas including the discovery of fragments of a 62-foot long reclining Buddha.

18. The Kaaba (*IS- 3 images)

19. The Kaaba (*IS- 2 images)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1haSpuXi3G8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1haSpuXi3G8  Granite masonry covered with a silk curtain; gold and silver thread; calligraphy  631-632 CE (Rededicated by Muhammed at this time; original structure is pre-Islamic)  Kaaba means cube  Mecca, Saudi Arabia  Mecca is the spiritual center of Islam  Destination for those making the hajj; circumambulate the Kaaba counterclockwise 7 times; holiest shrine in Islam  Existing structure encases the blackstone in the Eastern corner- the only part of the original structure by Ibrahim that survives  Has had to be repaired and reconstructed numerous times

20. Jowo Rinpoche, enshrined in the Jokang Temple (*IS)  Lhasa, Tibet  Yarlung Dynasty  Believed to have been brought to Tibet in 641 CE  Gilt metals with semiprecious stones, pearls, and paints- and various offerings  Temple founded in 647; earliest and foremost Buddhist temple  Jowo means “lord”; kang mean’s “house”

21. Jowo Rinpoche, enshrined in the Jokang Temple (*IS)  The statue is believed to have been blessed by Buddha himself; believed to have been crafted in India during his lifetime  This is a depiction of Buddha Sakyamuni as a young man around the age of 12  Disappeared during the 1960s Chinese “Cultural Revolution”  Rediscovered in 1983 in the lower part of a trash heap in Beijing  Restored in 2003

22. Dome of the Rock (*IS- 2 images) The Dome of the Rock is a building of extraordinary beauty, solidity, elegance, and singularity of shape… Both outside and inside, the decoration is so magnificent and the workmanship so surpassing as to defy description. The greater part is covered with gold so that the eyes of one who gazes on its beauties are dazzled by its brilliance, now glowing like a mass of light, now flashing like lightning. —Ibn Battuta (14th century travel writer)

23. Dome of the Rock (*IS- 2 images)  Jerusalem, Palestine  Islamic, Umayyad (1 st great Muslim Dynasty)  691-692 CE; multiple rennovations  Stone masonry with wooden roof; decorated with glazed ceramic tile, mosaics; gilt aluminum and bronze dome  Erected by Abd al-Malik, caliph of the Umayyad dynasty  Pilgrimage site  Dome is a wooden octagon

24. Dome of the Rock (*IS- 2 images)  Sits atop the Haram al-Sharif, the highest point in old Jerusalem  Sacred rock where Adam was buried, Abraham nearly sacrficed Isaac, Muhammed ascended to heaven, and the Temple of Jerusalem was buried  The Dome of the Rock is one of the earliest surviving buildings from the Islamic world. This remarkable building is not a mosque, as is commonly assumed and scholars still debate its original function and meaning.

25. Dome of the Rock (*IS- 2 images)  Mosaic Arabic calligraphy  Urges Muslims to embrace Allah as one god, and indicates that the Christian belief in the Holy Trinity is an abomination, polytheism  The architecture is meant to rival the Christian church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem although it was inspired by its domed rotunda

26. Dome of the Rock (*IS- 2 images)  Influenced by centrally planned buildings  Columns taken from Roman monuments  Oldest surviving Qur’an verses in architecture

27. Great Mosque (Masjid-e-Jameh) (*IS 4 Images)

28.  Isfahan, Iran  Islamic, Persian: Seljuk, Il- Khanid, Timurid, and Safavid Dynasties  C. 700 CE; additions and restorations in the 14 th, 18 th, and 20 th centuries  Stone, brick, plaster, wood, and glazed ceramic tile

29. Great Mosque (Masjid-e-Jameh)

30. Great Mosque (Masjid-e-Jameh) (*IS 4 Images)  First- architectural terms: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art- islam/beginners-guide- islamic/a/introduction-to-mosque- architecture

31. Great Mosque (Masjid-e-Jameh) (*IS 4 Images)  Large central rectangular courtyard surrounded by 2 story arcade  Each side has of the courtyard has a centrally placed iwan; may be first mosque to have this feature  One iwan serve as an entrance for a private space to be used by the sultan and his retinue  Dome adorned by tiles  The qibla iwan is the largest and most decorative; its size indicates the direction to Mecca

32. Folio from a Qur’an (*IS)  First, a bit about Islamic painting and sculpture…  Arab, North Africa, or Near East  Abbasid (Youngest uncle of Muhammad)  c. 8 th -9 th century CE  Ink, color, and gold on parchment

33. Folio from a Qur’an (*IS)  Arabic so reads right to left  Kufic script- strong uprights and long horizontals  Great clarity of text is important because multiple readers at once and some from a long distance  Consonants are scripted; vowels are indicated by dots or markings around other letters  Qur’ans were compiled and codified in the mid-7 th century; however, the earliest surviving is from the 9 th century.

34. Basin (Baptisere de St. Louis) (*IS)  https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-islam/islamic-art- medieval/v/ibn-al-zain-basin https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-islam/islamic-art- medieval/v/ibn-al-zain-basin  Artist= Muhammad ibn al-Zain; signed it 6 times  c. 1320- 1340 CE, brass inlaid with gold and silver  Original use was for washing of hands at official ceremonies  Later it was used for French royal family baptisms (association with St. Louis is fictional)  Hunting scenes along the sides  Mamluk (slaves of the king) hunters and Mongol enemies  Bottom of the bowl is decorated with fish, eels, crabs, and frogs

35. Bahram Gur Fights the Karg, folio from the Great Il-Khanid Shahnama (*IS)  Islamic  Persian; Il’Khanid Dynasty  C. 1330-1340 CE  Ink and opaque watercolor; gold; and silver on paper  Persian manuscript- bit about that  Iranian

36. Bahram Gur Fights the Karg, folio from the Great Il-Khanid Shahnama (*IS)  Large painted surface area; calligraphy diminished  Areas of flat color  Spatial recession is indicated by the overlapping planes  Atmospheric perspective seen in the light bluish background  Bahram Gur was an ancient Iranian king from the Sassanian Dynasty- represents the ideal king; wears a crown and gold halo

37. Bahram Gur Fights the Karg, folio from the Great Il-Khanid Shahnama (*IS)  The Karg is a unicorn he fought during his trip to India  Illustration from the Book of Kings  Note that he wears a garment of European fabric  Note that Chinese landscapes are seen in the background

38. The Court of the Gayumars, folio from Shah Tahmasp’s Shanama (*IS)  Sultan Muhammad  c. 1552-1525 CE  Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper  The Shanama (Book of Kings) is a Persian epic poem by Firdawsi (940- 1025) telling the ancient history of Persia  Whole book contains 258 illustrated pages

39. The Court of the Gayumars, folio from Shah Tahmasp’s Shanama (*IS)  Excerpt shows the first king, Gayumars, enthroned before his community  On the left is his son Siyamak. On the right is his grandson Hushang  His court appears in a semicircle below him; they are all in court attire; wearing leopard skins  Harmony between man and landscape  Minute details do not overwhelm the harmony of the scene  However, the angels are telling the king that his son will be murdered by the demon Ahriman

40. The Ardabil Carpet (*IS)  Maqsud of Kashan  1539-1540 CE  Silk and wool  25 million knots, 340 per sq. inch  Huge carpet- 34' 6" x 17' 6“  https://www.khanacademy. org/humanities/art- islam/islamic-art-late- period/a/the-ardabil- carpet