Category Archives: Silk Road art and history

The Painting Left Behind

Posted on March 2, 2023 by Susan Whitfield

Silk painting from Dunhuang, mistaken as a copy and sent by letter post to India. Continue reading →

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Central Asian Collections in Munich

Posted on December 10, 2022 by Susan Whitfield

Francke and Körber: 1914 expedition to Central Asia: Kashgar, Yarkhand, Khotan and Ladakh. Continue reading →

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Nara to Norwich: Online Exhibition

Posted on June 9, 2022 by Susan Whitfield

Great to work with colleagues on this online exhibition, exploring arts and beliefs at the ends of the Silk Roads: Nara to Norwich. Continue reading →

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Early Exhibitions of the Collections of Aurel Stein, Part 4: 1918, Royal Geographical Society, London

Posted on October 6, 2021 by Susan Whitfield

@RGS_IBG 1918 exhibition of Aurel Stein’s 3rd expedition #SilkRoad #photographs. Continue reading →

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Selenium and Horses in China: A Missing Link

Posted on April 16, 2021 by Susan Whitfield

‘In climbing up and down mountains and crossing ravines and mountain torrents, the horses of China cannot compare with those of the Xiongnu.’1 This observation by Chao Cuo 晁錯 (ca. 200–154 BC), a minister in the Han empire ruling China … Continue reading →

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Aurel Stein at Dunhuang

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Susan Whitfield

A snippet from the forthcoming paper concerning Stein’s acquisitions from the Library cave at Dunhuang Mogao. Continue reading →

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UNESCO and the Silk Road: The Role of Japan

Posted on January 28, 2021 by Susan Whitfield

‘Silk Roads’ is now a concept embraced by UNESCO, with the first transnational serial site as inscribed in 2014. Japan had played a vital role in the early discussion of Eurasian links which led to the adoption of the ‘Silk … Continue reading →

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New Book: Silk Roads: Peoples, Cultures, Landscapes

Posted on October 3, 2019 by Susan Whitfield

CONTENTS EXCERPT FROM INTRODUCTION There was no ‘Silk Road’. It is a modern label in widespread use only since the late 20th century and used since then to refer to trade and interaction across Afro-Eurasia from roughly 200 BE to … Continue reading →

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The Rectification of Names: Caves, Grottos or Rock-Cut Temples?

Posted on September 28, 2019 by Susan Whitfield

“If the names are not correct, language is without an object.” Confucius, Translated by Simon Leys. The Analects of Confucius: London and New York: W. W. Norton 1997: 13, 3. In her 2013 essay, Phyllis Granoff argued that the term … Continue reading →

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