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A Trio of Mismatched Camels
A stone relief carving by a leading sculptor in 19th century Britain shows three camels—and the bones of a fourth—laden with goods being led by a man dressed in Bedouin robes. The frieze has been noted in several books and recent blog posts but few have mentioned a striking feature: the central camel is clearly a Bactrian, a two-humped camel from central Asia. How do we explain this anatopistic beast? Continue reading
Early Exhibitions of the Collections of Aurel Stein, Part 3: 1914, King Edward VII Galleries
On 7 May 1914, the British Museum opened the new north wing of the Museum, the King Edward VII Galleries.1 The opening exhibition in the ground floor galleries showed paintings, manuscripts and other artefacts acquired by Aurel Stein (1862–1943) on … Continue reading
Posted in Aurel Stein, British Museum, Exhibitions
Tagged archaeology, architecture, art, British Museum, Buddhism, Dunhuang, Exhibitions, Laurence Binyon, Silk Road, Stein
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New Book: Silk Roads: Peoples, Cultures, Landscapes
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
Posted in Silk Road art and history
Tagged archaeology, architecture, art, Buddhism, sericulture, Silk Road
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Amluk Dara Stupa
Once rising almost as high as the Pantheon in Rome, the large stupa of Amluk Dara in the Swat valley, Pakistan, is still an imposing building. Yet it is was only one among many such Buddhist structures built in Udyāna, … Continue reading
Posted in Silk, Slaves and Stupas
Tagged Alexander the Great, Aornos, archaeology, architecture, Buddhism, Gandhara, Pakistan, Stein, stupa, Swat
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Silk Road Digressions 