Antiquities

South East Asian

The earliest contacts between the Western World and the high civilizations of the Far East came via trade routes of Roman times passing through Armenia, northern Persia and Turkestan. All regions had cultures of their own centered on the river valleys. From the second millennium B.C. there were many types of pottery and the Bronze Age cultures of the first millennium B.C. also produced some beautiful small figures and ornaments. There were periods of cultural unity, enforced at first by Persian and Chinese expansions, in the early centuries A.D., both of which at one time reached the Caspian Sea. Greek influence under the Seleucids [c. 312-64 B.C.] was strong and coins of this period have rare beauty. In the eastern regions of Turkestan, Chinese influence was greatest, trading posts were frequent and many fine locally made works in wood and stucco are known. There are also, from the third to the ninth centuries A.D., examples of Manichaean fresco painting and inscriptions. The mountainous terrain kept many peoples separate from one another, so local styles in pottery and wood carving vary. To the north were nomadic peoples, including the Huns, who have left little behind them apart from some metalwork. To the western end of their range, within the Russian sphere, some of the Siberian tribes left remarkable bronze horse-trappings, woodwork and even carpets dating back to the sixth century B.C.

Much later, from the fourth to tenth centuries A.D., the area acquired a more unified culture, and there are ancient books in local scripts which, from the Armenian area, are Christian. Samarkand and Bokhara produced Islamic books and fine tiles. In turkestan were ruined towns which have yielded frescoes, wood carvings and books both of Buddhist Mahayana belief and also of Manichaean learning.

Through the ancient trade routes the armies of Alexander the Great penetrated into India. After his death, the dominions he controlled split up into separate kingdoms. In particular Gandhara [north west India and east Afghanistan] has remains of Buddhist cities and monasteries which contain many miles of carved friezes illustrating the life of the Buddha and the stories of his previous incarnations. They are mainly carved from grey schist and are of late classical styles under artistic influences from the Roman Levant. Some of the monasteries were decorated with stucco sculpture painted in naturalistic colour. Bronze vessels and coins and some beautiful jewelry, particularly necklaces and seal rings of semi-precious stones set in gold, have also been found at Gandhara. A certain austerity, perhaps due to the colder climate, marks the difference between Gandharan and early Indian art. The existence of the Gandharan civilization stresses the importance of early trade routes from the Levant towards the Far East. These contacts were greatly restricted when the development of Islam deterred traders from the Christian West in the seventh century A.D.

India and Pakistan have long been regions of great artistic activity. The early cultures of the Indus Valley [Third millennium B.C.] were succeeded by Aryan kingdoms [second millennium B.C.], which produced new artistic styles. These, apart from some pottery and early Iron Age works, which were already developed, suddenly became fully developed under the influence of Buddhist art. This flowered from the second century B.C. to the second century A.D. in the realistic sculpture of a group of large monasteries, some of the finest examples of which are the stupas at Bharut and Sanchi, north central India. The graceful figures carved on the limestone palisades and gateways set the style which has ever since inspired Indian arts. Metalwork was developed in the earliest phases of Buddhist art, the iron pillar of Asoka being a magnificent example, and became an important part of later Indian art.

In southern India, the Hindu states produced sculpture, woodwork and bronze figures of great elegance [p. 43] and rhythmic beauty over many centuries from about the fourth century A.D. Each area had its own style, and there is also a development through time, usually in the direction of greater complexity. The spread of the Jain system of belief which had begun about the sixth century B.C. produced a simplification and a rather grand austerity of presentation. Although jewelry was made at this time, most existing Indian jewelry is of the medieval and later periods. Jade carvings of the Mughal period are particularly beautiful. In what is now Pakistan the introduction of Islam forbade the representation of the human figure and brought about the full development of geometric and floral ornament in sculpture. This was nevertheless accompanied by a rich achievement in miniature painting, which derived eventually from Persian art, was very popular and influenced painting throughout the subcontinent. Tiles and glass were also made in the Islamic tradition.

With the expansion of Indian trade into the Malayan Peninsula from the fifth to ninth centuries A .D., traders came into contact with the Chinese and there was an increasing mixture of the two cultures, stretching from the arts of Sri Lanka to those of Vietnam. In Sri Lanka there are beautiful Hindu and Buddhist figures. The kings of Kandy in the fifteenth century A.D. ruled a city which produced fine jewelry and peculiarly beautiful decorated knives. Sri Lanka is also the land of precious stones, particularly rubies and pearls and many of its jewels are beautifully adorned with them.

The influence of southern Buddhism, the Hinayana tradition, spread throughout South East Asia. A most important center in Indonesia was the great temple of Boro Budur in Java. But there are a so many magnificent Hindu temples in Indonesia. Ivory and metalwork, such as the beautiful wavy-bladed Indonesian krises, date back to the Majapahit empire of the twelfth to fourteenth centuries.

The area once known as Indochina has never been united and its different kingdoms show strongly marked individual styles of art. Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam formed into varying political patterns. Their art has been first Hindu and then Buddhist throughout their history. Many beautiful bronze vessels and figures of Buddha and his disciples were made for temple services. Gold and fine jewels were always part of the regalia of kings and courtiers. Sculpture in hard stones was of a very high standard of design and technical finish. Pottery everywhere shows Chinese influence, but individual workshops provided a great variety of wares, often with rather thick white glazes. The cultures of importance belong to the period from about A.D. 300 to 1500. Fine domestic objects include repussé bowls, betel-cutters and weapons, all of complex designs that probably originated in India but were varied locally. In the eastern kingdoms there has long been influence from China, which was accentuated when Kubla Khan invaded the country in the late twelfth century.

Further south the Malay Peninsula, the seat of several sultanates, received most of its influence from India, but the native genius simplified much of the complexity of medieval design and they produced remarkable metalwork in iron, silver and especially in gold.

The Indonesian islands were also ruled by independent sultans. Their antiquities are mostly Buddhist and Hindu, and they include excellent stone sculptures and a wide variety of bronzes, mostly used in religious and court ceremonials. Many objects are inscribed with a script derived from India.

Far to the north is Tibet, once a group of warlike mountain states, then part of the Chinese Empire, and recently independent. Its antiquities are a most entirely concerned with Mahayana Buddhism and inscribed rocks with the formula Om mani padme hum, the famous Buddhist prayer, abound. The bronzes are of exquisite workmanship, but few are ancient; that is, from before about A.D. 1500. The Tibetan area is midway between India and China, and both countries influenced its art very considerably. [pp. 43-44]