Saturday University with Hseuh-Man Shen

Saturday, November 2, 2019

10:00 to 11:30am

At the Seattle Art Museum Plestcheeff Auditorium
1300 First Avenue, Seattle, WA

The Saturday University series on the Silk Road in Asia continues with a lecture by Hsueh-Man Shen on Buddhist Art and Artifacts in Medieval China.

As Buddhism was transmitted to China, sacred objects were duplicated and replicated to satisfy the needs of local communities. Yet the replications pose a series of questions about authenticity. This lecture shows that using production techniques already available in China, and building on the Buddhist concept of a replica as an extension of its source, Buddhist practitioners re-created images, text, and relics imbued with the same authenticity as their original models.

Presented by the Gardner Center for Asian Art and Ideas, in partnership with the University of Washington Jackson School of International Studies, the Dunhuang Foundation, and Elliott Bay Book Company.

Hsueh-Man Shen is Ehrenkranz Associate Professor in World Art, New York University. She specializes in the art and archaeology of medieval China, with a focus on the period from the eighth to the twelfth centuries. Her book Authentic Replicas: Buddhist Art in Medieval China was published in 2018.

More information at the Seattle Art Museum website.