The Silk Road
2021-22 Season Subscriptions Reserve a seat for each lecture in this series. Subscribers enjoy the best seats at the best price.
The Ancient Spice and Silk Trade Routes Have Been Given New Life
Tuesday, January 11, 2022, 10:30am
Signature Event Space
Dru Gladney, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Anthropology, Pomona College
The ancient spice and silk trade routes have been given new life with China’s modern Silk Road initiative. This talk will dicuss the rise, fall and rise again of these important trade routes, which have intermittently linked Europe with China for the last two millennia.
Gold from the Silk Road
Tuesday, January 18, 2022, 10:30am
Signature Event Space
Jason Sun, Ph.D., Brook Russell Astor Curator of Chinese Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The frequent trade and contact over the Silk Road brought about an unprecedented growth of gold and silver vessels and jewelry before and during the Tang dynasty. Their shapes, decorations and manufacturing techniques, all inspired by the art of the Persian world, had a lasting impact on Chinese decorative arts in the following centuries.
Cultural Crossroads: Inner Mongolia and the Steppe Road, 4th-7th Centuries
Tuesday, January 25, 2022, 10:30am
Signature Event Space
Annette Juliano, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, Rutgers University
The fantastic discovery of the Yihe-Nur cemetery of five “Xianbei” tombs in northeast Inner Mongolia highlights the once-neglected Steppe or Northern overland trade routes of the Silk Road. Diverse cultural objects coupled with older excavations reveal nomadic, shamanistic cultures and cross-cultural activity between China, Inner Mongolia, North China and Far Eastern cultures.
The Maritime Silk Road in the Late-First to Mid-Second Millennium A.D.
Tuesday, February 1, 2022, 10:30am
Signature Event Space
Derek Heng, Ph.D., Professor, Northern Arizona State University
The Maritime Silk Road, which connected Maritime Asia through to the East Coast of Africa, witnessed intense and vibrant interactions for at least the last two thousand years. This talk will provide an overview of these exchanges that occurred during the late-first to mid-second millennium A.D. and showcase the rich diversity of sources presently available to aid our understanding of this important global system of exchange.
From Samarkand to Xi’an: Sogdians on the Silk Road
Tuesday, February 8, 2022, 10:30am
Signature Event Space
Judith Lerner, Ph.D., art historian
An East Iranian people who lived in what is today Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, the Sogdians are best known for their mercantile activities along the “Silk Roads.” Their caravans and trading communities across Central Asia into China abetted the intense intercultural exchanges between East and West during the fifth to eigth centuries when Sogdiana flourished.
Zoroastrian and Manichaean Arts of the Silk Road
Tuesday, February 15, 2022, 10:30am
Signature Event Space
Zsuzsana Gulasci, Ph.D., Professor of Art History, Asian Studies, and Comparative Religious Studies at Northern Arizona University
Dr. Zsuzsanna Gulasci of North Arizona University presents a lecture on Zoroastrian and Manichaean images of the afterlife portrayed on stone sarcophagi and painted banners. The lecture explores the visual culture of death rituals during medieval times documented among Sogdian and Uyghur communities living in their Central Asian homelands and, as foreigners, in the capital cities of China.
The Caves of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China’s Silk Road
Tuesday, January 22, 2022, 10:30am
Signature Event Space
Mimi Gardner Gates, Ph.D., Director Emeritus of the Seattle Museum of Art and co-chair of the Dunhuang Foundation US
Mimi Gardner Gates presents a lecture exploring the Cave Temples of Dunhuang, located on the Silk Roads in northwest China. Spanning 1,000 years, the magnificent wall painting and sculpture in these grottoes, and the contents of a hidden cave rediscovered in 1900, are among the earliest and finest Buddhist works of art in China.
Film and New Year’s Lunch
Film to be announced.
Tuesday, March 1, 2022, 10:30am
Signature Event Space
The Asian Art and History series concludes with a screening of a documentary film about the Silk Road, immediately followed by a special Chinese New Year luncheon.
All programming, performers and dates are subject to change. Artis—Naples will comply with guidance from Federal, state and local authorities and will be responsible and measured in decisions about public performances and events. As has been true since this public health crisis began, Artis—Naples main priority remains the health and safety of patrons, musicians, team members, visiting artists, students and the wider community. Please review our COVID-19 Protocols for detailed guidance about our enhanced safety protocols.