The realm of Asian art is vast, covering half the world, from the edge of Europe east to the tip of North America and from the Artic Circle south to the equator. In time, too, its spread is huge, ranging from the Neolithic to the present day, and examples of the art of Asia are almost infinite in their variety. Chinese bronze and iron, Himalayan and Cambodian sculpture, Japanese paintings, jewelry from East Asia to Europe, materials from jade to feathers, glass beads to ceramic tiles - all are the subject of investigation in this volume.
Scientific research into works of Asian art at the Freer Gallery of Art began with R.J. Gettens in 1951, and the papers presented here are a celebration of fifty years work in the field. Such papers, delivered by experts from across the globe and representing the very latest technologies and understanding, reveal a small but significant part of this great breadth of artistic achievement, helping to bring back to life the artists and artisans of the area.
Proceedings of the first Forbes Symposium at the Freer Gallery of Art
Foreword
Acknowledgements
List of contributors
Introduction
Ornament
Connections between Islam, Europe, and the Far East in the Early Medieval period: the evidence of jewelry technology
Jack Ogden
Studies on archaeological ambers in Japan
Masanori Sato, Mitsuru Mimura, and Kazuo Yamasaki
Feathers of blue on a field of gold: Chinese ornament with kingfisher-feather cloisonné
Blythe McCarthy and Ellen Salzman Chase
Bronze and iron in China
A history of the study of bronze casting in ancient China
Su Rongyu
Chinese cast iron through twenty-five hundred years
P.T. Craddock , M.L. Wayman, H. Wang, and C. Michaelson
A study of the making of bronze weapons in the Wu and Yue states during the Eastern Zhou period in China
Lian Haiping and Tan Derui
Metallurgical analysis of metal cauldrons from Xinjiang, northwest China
Mei Jianjun
Tinned belt plaques of the sixth to fifth century B.C.E. from Gansu Province, China: a technical study
Ma Qinglin and D.A. Scott
The manufacturing technique of ferrous artifacts excavated from Xianbei gravesite at Lamadong village of Liaoning Province
Chen Jianli, Han Rubin, and Wan Xin
Metalworking traditions
A study of later Chinese metalwork
Michael Cowell, Susan La Niece, and Jessica Rawson
Medieval Islamic metal technology
Susan La Niece
A scientific study of twin Japanese bronze mirrors
Ryu Murakami, Masaaki Sawada, W.T. Chase, and P. Jett
A millennium of Khmer bronze metallurgy: analytical studies of bronze artifacts from the Musée Guimet and the Phnom Penh National Museum
David Bourgarit, Benoit Mille, Thierry Borel, Pierre Baptiste, and Thierry Zéphir
Trace elements in north Indian and Tibetan statuettes of copper alloys
Josef Riederer
New evidence for the historical context of Buddhist bronzes from Swat Valley, northern Pakistan
Chandra L. Reedy
Scientific investigations of an enthroned Buddha from Kashmir
John Twilley
Paintings
Pigments on Japanese ukiyo-e paintings in the Freer Gallery of Art
Elisabeth West Fitzhugh
East Asian painting pigments: recent progress and remaining problems
John Winter, Jennifer Giacci, and Marco Leona
Five Protective Goddesses (Pancaraksha): a study of color notations and pigments
Kate Duffy and Jacki Elgar
Recent studies on Sri Lankan mural painting technology
B.D. Nandadeva
Glass, jade, and ceramics
Compositions and particles embedded in Korean ancient glass beads
Heisun Yu and Hyung Tae Kang
Scientific study on the glass beads found in the Yayoi period of Japan
Takayasu Koezuka and Kazuo Yamasaki
Exploring issues of geological source for jade worked by ancient Chinese cultures with the aid of x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy
Janet G. Douglas
Evolution of the tilework of Friday Mosque in Isfahan, based on glaze analysis
S. Durali, P. Oliaiy, F. Shokouhi, M. Lamehi, and J. Rahighi
