RAS Art Focus

in collaboration with the Consulate General of India in Shanghai

Understanding Buddhist Iconography

Saturday, 14 November 2026

Registration 1:45 pm

2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

We continue our autumn Art Focus series, presented in collaboration with the Consulate General of India in Shanghai and convened by art historian Julie Chun. The series explores the transmission of Buddhism, and with it, Buddhist imagery from India to China. This vast and fascinating topic provides our speakers an opportunity to share their areas of expertise and distinctive perspectives, offering insight into how religious ideas and visual traditions traveled across geographies and were circulated, transformed, and interpreted along the way.

For our third lecture in the four-part series, please join Art Focus Convener Julie Chun as we examine ancient sculptures in China - as funerary markers, reliquaries, and monuments - before they became established as "art." How did these site-specific objects, originally located in sacred caves, religious temples, and even personal tombs, find their way into museums and private collections? More importantly, what do these artifacts reveal about the contexts in which they were created, utilized and even venerated? These questions also apply to Buddhist imagery, much of which was created according to iconographical standards set by monks, some of whom wielded great influence at court. As a philosophical doctrine transmitted to China, the lives and teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who lived in the 5th or 6th century BCE, spread from South Asia throughout East Asia and beyond. The significance of this spread for societies and civilizations throughout history was aided by compelling visual imagery and material culture, especially in societies that were largely illiterate at the time. Join us to study how Buddhist iconographies incorporated a diverse range of foreign and local elements to assist devotees elucidate an abstract concept as a personal and collective belief system.

This event is opened to members of the RAS China and guests of the Consulate General India in Shanghai. For nonmembers, please subscribe as an RAS member to register for this museum talk.

https://ras-china.org/memberships​

About the speaker:

Julie Chun is an art historian and art critic based in Shanghai since 2011, serving RAS China as a Council Member in various capacities as the Vice President, Journal Editor, Librarian, and Art Focus Convener. She lectures about the state of art and museums in Shanghai for diverse foreign associations, including for the foreign Consulate General offices. She has taught East Asian art history as an Adjunct Professor at global programs in Shanghai, and is a regular contributing writer for Yishu Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art. Her art reviews and criticisms have been published in academic journals and online art journals in China and internationally.