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Tree & Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India
With new photography of extraordinarily rare works of art, this pioneering study features discoveries and research essential to understanding the origins and meaning of Buddhist artistic traditions
Named for two primary motifs in Buddhist art, the sacred bodhi tree and the protective snake, Tree & Early Buddhist Art in India is the first publication to foreground devotional works produced in the Deccan from 200 BCE to 400 CE. Unlike traditional narratives, which focus on northern India (where the Buddha was born, taught, and died), this groundbreaking book presents Buddhist art from monastic sites in the south. Long neglected, this is among the earliest corpus of Buddhist art surviving, and among the most sublimely beautiful. An international team of researchers contributes new scholarship on the sculptural and devotional art associated with Buddhism, and masterpieces from recently excavated Buddhist sites are published here for the first time—including Kanaganahalli and Phanigiri, the most important new discoveries in a generation. With its exploration of Buddhism’s emergence in southern India, as well as of India’s deep commercial and cultural engagement with the Hellenized and Roman worlds, the definitive study expands our understanding of the origins of Buddhist art itself.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(July 21–November 13, 2023)
National Museum of Korea, Seoul
(December 22, 2023–April 14, 2024)
Named for two primary motifs in Buddhist art, the sacred bodhi tree and the protective snake, Tree & Early Buddhist Art in India is the first publication to foreground devotional works produced in the Deccan from 200 BCE to 400 CE. Unlike traditional narratives, which focus on northern India (where the Buddha was born, taught, and died), this groundbreaking book presents Buddhist art from monastic sites in the south. Long neglected, this is among the earliest corpus of Buddhist art surviving, and among the most sublimely beautiful. An international team of researchers contributes new scholarship on the sculptural and devotional art associated with Buddhism, and masterpieces from recently excavated Buddhist sites are published here for the first time—including Kanaganahalli and Phanigiri, the most important new discoveries in a generation. With its exploration of Buddhism’s emergence in southern India, as well as of India’s deep commercial and cultural engagement with the Hellenized and Roman worlds, the definitive study expands our understanding of the origins of Buddhist art itself.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(July 21–November 13, 2023)
National Museum of Korea, Seoul
(December 22, 2023–April 14, 2024)
344 pages, Hardcover
Published July 25, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 13, 2023
Massive, learned, informative.
Based on the 2023 exhibition by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Explores the iconography of early Buddhist India (roughly 200BCE-300CE) based on the surviving stone carvings from stupas (the mound-shaped constructions that memorialized the life of the Buddha and acted as sites of religious worship linked to neighboring monasteries).
For those interested in this period, this is a fascinating source. The book provides detailed information on 147 objects with high-quality photos and art historical analysis. There are also a dozen essays that focus on aspects of early Buddhism (the architecture of the stupas, the iconography of the carvings, the lives of the associated monastic communities, the role of donors and devotees, the sources of wealth from domestic and foreign trade, etc.)
The format does not make for an easy read, however. Perhaps inevitably, there is a good deal of duplication across the catalogued items as well as with the essays. This becomes a little frustrating, and a better approach would have been to provide some of the detailed knowledge in text boxes with links to the latter from the object descriptions.
For the majority of readers, this is a book to browse through and dip into, rather than something that can be read with enjoyment from front to back. A shame, given the massive resources devoted to the exhibition. That said, a five-star book as a reference work.
Based on the 2023 exhibition by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Explores the iconography of early Buddhist India (roughly 200BCE-300CE) based on the surviving stone carvings from stupas (the mound-shaped constructions that memorialized the life of the Buddha and acted as sites of religious worship linked to neighboring monasteries).
For those interested in this period, this is a fascinating source. The book provides detailed information on 147 objects with high-quality photos and art historical analysis. There are also a dozen essays that focus on aspects of early Buddhism (the architecture of the stupas, the iconography of the carvings, the lives of the associated monastic communities, the role of donors and devotees, the sources of wealth from domestic and foreign trade, etc.)
The format does not make for an easy read, however. Perhaps inevitably, there is a good deal of duplication across the catalogued items as well as with the essays. This becomes a little frustrating, and a better approach would have been to provide some of the detailed knowledge in text boxes with links to the latter from the object descriptions.
For the majority of readers, this is a book to browse through and dip into, rather than something that can be read with enjoyment from front to back. A shame, given the massive resources devoted to the exhibition. That said, a five-star book as a reference work.
June 2, 2024
Blown away both by the exhibition at the Met and by this catalog of that exhibition. Unbelievable art from nearly 2000 years ago. Kudos to John Guy, et al for a mind expanding, horizon stretching exhibition and catalog. The catalog is jam-packed with beautiful photographs and scholarly essays that are a pleasure to contemplate and read.
There is so much about the history of Buddhism that is mysterious. It arrived in a remote part of India, seemingly fully formed with its art and architecture, its reliquaries and monasteries, and its enlightenment philosophy 2000 years before the European Enlightenment. The exhibition and catalog amply illustrate how compelling this mystery is and why it is so deserving of further study and research.
There is so much about the history of Buddhism that is mysterious. It arrived in a remote part of India, seemingly fully formed with its art and architecture, its reliquaries and monasteries, and its enlightenment philosophy 2000 years before the European Enlightenment. The exhibition and catalog amply illustrate how compelling this mystery is and why it is so deserving of further study and research.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews