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Asian Section

Faces of Asia

By: Carleton S. Coon

Volume XXII / Number 1

This communication is one result of a trip around the world taken by Mrs. Coon and myself in the fall, winter, and spring of 1956-57, on behalf of The University Museum. We also received support from The Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Research Institute of the United States Air Force, and LIFE magazine. All the pictures shown […]


Carvings in Walrus Ivory

By: Schuyler Cammann

Volume XVIII / Number 3

When anyone mentions walrus ivory, we immediately think of small Eskimo carvings from the northernmost parts of the world. The words may even conjure up a mental picture of short yellow men in fur clothing, spearing the huge sea mammals from slender skin boats, and later cutting out the long tusks to carve or engrave […]


II. Brief Catalogue of the Letcher Collection

By: Schuyler Cammann

Volume XVII / Number 3

A. MING BADGES Circular medallion from the robe of a Ming Emperor, showing a powerful winged dragon (ying) pursuing its sacred pearl. Flowers in background. Magnificently embroidered in satin stitch, against a background of horizontal strips worked vertically in satin stitch. Late 16th or early 17th cent. Illustrated in Fig. 17. Museum Object Number: 52-23-1 […]


I. Chinese Mandarin Squares

By: Schuyler Cammann

Volume XVII / Number 3

INTRODUCTION The Chinese were the first people in the world to use silk, and the finest products of Chinese weaving and embroidery are marvels of technical achievement. They have never been surpassed in the Occident. A whole range of Chinese textile techniques is exhibited in the workmanship on the mandarin squares, the square plaques of […]


Louis E. Stern

Collector

By: Louis E. Stern

Volume XVI / Number 3

Pottery of the 15th century A.D. from Lago de Ajudante, Brazil, interested Mr. Stern. I was attracted by the grace of these potteries. The shapes have some relation to the Persian and Chinese, as well as the Greeks, although it is hardly likely that these people had access to this an. The outstanding feature of […]


The Story of Hornbill Ivory

By: S. V. R. C.

Volume XV / Number 4

The strange substance called “hornbill ivory” was formerly an important commodity in Asiatic trade, and it was extensively carved, especially in China and the East Indies. Carvings in it were always highly valued and they have now become exceedingly rare. Thus we are very fortunate in having a fine example in the University Museum (see […]


Warp and Woof

By: C.-J. H.

Volume XIV / Number 3

WARP AND WOOF, the University Museum’s current exhibit of historic and contemporary textiles, has a double aim: to spread before the visitor the almost miraculous products of the primitive loom, and to suggest how infinite are the decorative possibilities to be discovered in ancient and primitive design. Side by side with the rich fabrics of […]


A Prince of the Lama Church

Glimpses of the Lama Religion in Tibet and Mongolia

By: Schuyler Cammann

Volume XIV / Number 2

Our brief glimpse at the more popular aspects of Tibetan Buddhism may have made it seem a very simple faith. The real complexity of the religion begins to appear when we look into the organization of the Church, with its countless dignitaries and officials. This forms a pyramid, at the top of which are the […]


Acquiring Merit in Lama Lands

Glimpses of the Lama Religion in Tibet and Mongolia

By: Schuyler Cammann

Volume XIV / Number 2

On a series of trips through the Tibetan borderlands of West China and Northern India, some years ago, and in Inner Mongolia at the end of the war, I made a special study of the Lama religion. In its popular form this is concerned mostly with the problem of how to gain spiritual merit. In […]


Masks

Volume XIII / Number 1