forschungsbericht november 2008 – juli 2012 - Kunsthistorisches ...

PROMOVIERENDE | 101
horizon, producing an architectural language more in tune with the West than the East. In
order to improve our understanding of this cultural shift, the project aims to reconstruct
the operational chain of building processes from the early provision of raw materials to the
final erection of buildings. Only by looking at the ways in which local craftsmen appropriated
western building technologies, and by examining the transfer of applied practice
and techniques from foreign masons to local ones, can we begin to understand the extent
of Venetian colonization in an overlooked period that is crucial to the formation of Crete's
architectural landscape.
Alternative Topographies: Loca Sancta Surrogates and Site Circulation in
Late Antiquity and Byzantium
Laura Veneskey | G.I.F. Projekt »The Holy Land Elsewhere«
My dissertation examines medieval notions of sacred place and the portable ›copies‹ of
place that circulated in the Mediterranean region between the fifth and eleventh centuries.
A vast amount has been written on medieval pilgrimage, of the journeys of people to holy
sites; I consider the inverse of this process, by which places themselves were made to travel,
to be re-created, re-imagined, and re-used in distant settings. Traditionally, the generation
of surrogate loci has been addressed through the multiplication of related monumental edifices,
notably the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Yet the proliferation of architectural copies
dotting the landscape of Europe did not occur in the East. My research explores the different
strategies through which place, in both its physical and conceptual manifestations, did circulate
in the Byzantine Empire, engendering sanctity in new locations and forging dynamic
networks of piety and power throughout the Mediterranean.
Praying for Ten Thousand Goodness: On Ding Guanpeng’s The Buddha
Preaching in the Berlin Collection
Ching-Ling Wang | Connecting Art Histories in the Museum
Ding Guanpeng's Buddha's Preaching
1770, Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum
The painting The Buddha Preaching in the collection of the Ethnological Museum, Berlin,
is by far the largest painting produced by any of the Qing court artists. It measures 525
cm x 950 cm and depicts a scene of the Buddha preaching the dharma while surrounded
by various Bodhisattvas, Arhats, Vajradharas, and other deities. It was painted in 1770 by
Ding Guanpeng 丁 觀 鵬 (?–1770?), one of the most important court painters in the 18 th century.
However, other than a few very short introductions,
this painting has never been studied in
detail, nor does it come up often when scholars
discuss Ding Guanpeng's work. The project aims
to reveal the artistic value of this much overlooked
painting, provide new research material
for the field, and contextualize the function and
meaning of this painting by considering its original
location, and to reconstruct the impact of its
institutional and religious contexts in the Qing
court. Ding Guanpeng's Buddha’s Preaching will
be analysed in terms of its style and iconography
to pinpoint its position and importance in Ding Guanpeng's career. The imperial archive
will be used to locate the site where Ding Guanpeng's Buddha’s Preaching was originally
hung in order to place the painting in its historical context, and also to identify how and
under what kind of patronage it was made. This will shed light on the imperial art agency
in the painting academy of the Qing court.