Review: Imagining the Divine: Art and the Rise of World Religions, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK 19 October 2017–18 February 2018

Abstract

Imagining the Divine: Art and the Rise of World Religions , Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, October 19, 2017-February 18, 2018. https://shop.ashmolean.org/index.php/exhibitions-123/imagining-the-devine/imagining-the-divine-catalogue.html. Exhibition catalogue: Jas Elsner, Stefanie Lenk, et. al. Imagining the Divine: Art and the Rise of World Religions . Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2017. Pp. 232; 187 ill. ISBN: 1910807184. $35.00. The exhibition, Imagining the Divine: Art and the Rise of World Religions , and its catalogue are results of a multi-year, collaborative research project between the British Museum and the University of Oxford entitled Empires of Faith . The research project's purpose was to explore the emergence of religious imagery and iconographies across Asia and Europe in different religious traditions between 200-800 C.E., while the focus of the exhibition and catalogue was slightly broader, covering the first-millennium development of five major world religions: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism (see here). The curators state that they set out to determine the early visual formulations that led to the iconic imagery of the second millennium C.E., although this was not the topic ultimately addressed. The exhibition begins with five images that display the features now standardly viewed as representative of each of the religions’ visual cultures. Thus the visitor is confronted with a Tibetan thangka of a Buddha with curled hair and an ushnisha (cranial protuberance indicating wisdom) seated cross-legged with his left hand in his lap and the other touching the earth in front of his right knee; a wooden panel painted with a seated image of Christ with long hair and a beard flanked by his mother Mary and St. John the Baptist; an embroidered curtain to cover an ark depicting the tablets of the law surrounded by twelve scenes representing Jewish festivals and holidays; a watercolour painting for a British customer of the twelve avatars of the Hindu god Vishnu; and a paper pilgrimage certificate showing the Ka'ba and the stations along the road to Mecca, as well as a depiction of the Prophet Mohammed's sandal decorated with one of his sayings. All are dated between the 15th and 18th centuries, and all display features instantly recognisable to …