The Life Cycle of the Sacred:
Manichaeans Artifacts and their Curious Preservation at Buddhist Archaeological Sites across Medieval East Central China
This presentation focuses on a unique body of text and art that was produced for the purposes of Manichaean communities between the mid 8th and early 11th centuries along the eastern part of the Silk Routes. It will assess the codicological and pictorial qualities of some of the best-preserved Iranian, Uygur, and Chinese examples of this corpus known today from the Turfan region (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region) and Dunhuang (Gansu Province, PRC), in order to contemplate the life of sacred objects, the practice of their sanctioned disposal, and their occasional Buddhist appropriation.
Zsuzsanna Gulácsi is Professor of Asian Religious Art in the Department of Cultural Studies at Northern Arizona University.
Hosted by Program in Global Medieval Studies
Co-Sponsored by Department of Art History, Rutgers Center for Chinese Studies, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, and Global Asias
Refreshments will be served.
Contact Jessey Choo (