Frantz Grenet

Collège de France

Chaire Histoire et cultures de l'Asie centrale préislamique

Année 2023-2024

Interweaving Eurasian Visual and Material Arts: Beyond Space and Time

Conférence - Mariachiara Gasparini : The Sino-Turkic-Iranian Artistic Identity of the Early Tibetans

Mariachiara Gasparini

Assistant Professor of Chinese Art and Architectural History, Department of the History of Art and Architecture, College of Design, University of Oregon

Résumé

In the 7th century, the Tibetans began to dominate a broad territory that extended across the Qinghai-Tibet plateau. It was suggested that some ideas and practices of their indigenous Bon religion were acquired from western Tibet, which was once inhabited by Iranian tribes. But, most likely, the Tibetans acquired many traditions and customs from the Western Turks, who were also appointed as their ministers. Recent material from Qinghai and Gansu Provinces, namely textiles and metal objects, show a combination of Sino-Iranian elements, used in a Turko-Tibetan environment. Eventually, by converting to Buddhism, the Tibetans acquired an educational system and a cosmopolitan status.

Through a comparative analysis of objects of art, this lecture discusses the creation, development, and patronage of early Tibetan aesthetics between the 7th and 9th centuries.