Stories

Heather Clydesdale published "Earthly Beasts and Heavenly Creatures: Animal Realms in Medieval Chinese Tombs and Cave Temples" in The Zoomorphic Arts of Ancient Central Eurasia. This essay explains how the dwindling presence of animals in art signals a turn to anthropocentrism in a tumultuous period along the Silk Roads in western China. The depiction and placement of domestic, wild, and fantastical animals seen in tomb art of the third century show that people believed such creatures to be essential in maintaining political and cosmic harmony, which aligned with established Chinese philosophies codified in the preceding Han dynasty. Additionally, the art reveals the profound influence of pastoral customs on daily life in this ethnically-diverse region. By the sixth century, however, the spread of Buddhist doctrine augered the near-eradication of animals in art, which in turn points to changes in society and soteriological beliefs. As human figures proliferated in cave temple paintings, phalanxes of buddhas and bodhisattvas elbowed out images of animals. This divulges shifting attitudes about agricultural expansion and cosmopolitanism, along with visions of paradises in which animals are absent. The journal Arts featured the article on the cover of a special edited issue. Additionally, The Zoomorphic Arts of Ancient Central Eurasia has just been released as an edited book.