EACS-2016. Book of Abstracts

Section 7 21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies 89 as tributes from countries in Central Asia, and their artistic representation was hence highly embedded with political statements. In the Qing dynasty, dogs increasingly gained an equal status to that of tributary horses. In addition to exotic animals displayed in tribute paintings and naturalistic images that reproduced the Renaissance knowledge of domesticated animals, Qianlong’s court favored a special type of “animal portrait." Similar to falcons and steeds, the emperor’s beloved hounds are depicted with subtle emotional changes like those of humans, which distinguishes them significantly from dog paintings of the previous dynasties. Relying on the album painted by the Bohemian Jesuit painter Ignaz Sichelbarth (1706–1780), this paper investigates the interconnectedness of various animal portraits that co-existed in Qianlong’s court, the division of labor in the making of these paintings, as well as the compositional features that relate to early modern animal paintings in Europe. Yi Lidu (Joy) (Florida International University) Karmic Narratives Can Tell — Redefining Cave 12 in Yungang Key words: Buddhist cave sanctuary, liturgical ritual, changdao, jiangjing, sujiang, Sutra of Trapusa and Bhallika Buddhism not only brought images and temples to China, it also brought the ways of worshipping and performing. However, what kind of ritual or performance could have been conducted in a Buddhist rock- cut sanctuary? The question is seldom raised. The study of Buddhist art often centers on identification of visual images and iconographic styles, and therefore largely neglects the practical function of the religious space. This study shifts the attention to the function of a cave sanctuary case-studying cave 12 in Yungang. The enquiry focuses on how architecture, a literary text (the Tiwei Boli Jing, Sutra of Trapusa and Bhal- lika), image-making and oral ritual practices (changdao, jiangjing and sujiang) compliment each other, and ultimately function as an interrelated entity in a religious cave space. We cannot emphasize enough the function of a cave sanctuary. Yu Yusen (University of Heidelberg) Sino-Buddhist Iconography in“Islamic” Paintings of Century Asia and Iran: from Late-14th to Early — 16th Century Key words: Sino-Islmaic interactions, Sino-Buddhist iconography, Iran and Central Asia, Chinese influence on Islamic painting, Yuan-Ming painting To what extent Islam and Buddhism, the two most universal religions of pre-modern period, were cul- turally and visually interacted is a question yet to be answered. This paper seeks to shed new light on the reception and integration of Chinese Buddhist iconography in the visual culture of Central Asia and Iran from the disintegration of Mongol dominance to the early Safavid rule (i.e. late 14th — early 16th century). The paper looks at two artistic genres, the album painting and manuscript illustration, and discusses two key issues: first, it examines the channels of flow of Sino-Buddhist iconography into Central Asia and Iran, which unfolds through its intensive contacts with Yuan-Ming China, and various agents such as diplomatic emissaries and Muslim merchants; secondly, it highlights the active role of Persian artists and discusses how Sino-Buddhist iconographies are (re)used, reinterpreted and assimilated in the visual culture of this period. It thus hopefully contributes to a better understanding of the Sino-Buddhist influences on the ways of representing the divine in a Persianate-Islamic context.