Art and Architecture of the Dunhuang Caves:  Anatomy of a cave (or two)

Dora C. Y. Ching *11

Associate Director of the P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for East Asian Art at Princeton University

Saturday October 16, 2021, 9 am EDT

A4P and the Association of Graduate Princeton Alumni (AGPA) are delighted to host Princeton University’s Tang Center for East Asian Art Associate Director Dora C. Y. Ching *11 for a fascinating presentation of the Dunhuang Buddhist Caves on Saturday October 16 at 9:00 - 10:30 AM EDT. Please note this event will not be recorded.

Builders, artisans, painters, and sculptors created nearly five hundred decorated cave temples at the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, China from 400-1400 CE. This lecture takes an in-depth look at the art and architecture of a few of these caves, focusing in particular on the transmission and cross-influences of Buddhist imagery along the Silk Road.

For those who missed the June 24th presentation, here is a second chance. This is not the same presentation, however.  Per Dora:

I will have a brief intro—so if people haven’t heard a talk before, they will get some background on the Dunhuang Caves—and then I will focus primarily on the art architecture of one cave in the context of the Silk Road. Aside from introductory material, this is a different talk. The other talk was more of an overview; this will be an in-depth look at Mogao Cave 285.

Registration details here.

Any questions, please email here.

Speaker Profile

Ph.D., Princeton University, 2011

Dora Ching has been associate director of the P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for East Asian Art(link is external) at Princeton University since 2002. She is a leading specialist in Chinese portraiture and the characteristics that distinguish this genre from its European and American counterparts. Before and during her time at the Tang Center she has been deeply engaged in book editing and publication, with more than a dozen books to her credit as coeditor or managing editor. She is the author of numerous published book chapters and articles and has co-curated three major museum exhibitions.

During her graduate years at Princeton, Ching served as research assistant at the National Palace Museum in Taipei and as an editor of the National Palace Museum Bulletin. She also worked at the Princeton University Art Museum on the exhibition The Embodied Image: Chinese Calligraphy from the John B. Elliott Collection. She held the Jane and Morgan Whitney Art History Fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, working on 19th- and 20th-century Chinese painting. The wide range of her research and study experience is reflected in the books she has worked on, from early Shang archaeology through family issues in Chinese art, calligraphy, and contemporary Chinese arts.

Selected Bibliography

 Agnew, Neville, Marcia Reed, and Tevvy Ball, eds. Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China’s Silk Road. Los Angeles, CA: Getty Conservation Institute, 2016.

 Ching, Dora C.Y.,ed. Visualizing Dunhuang: Seeing, Studying, and Conserving the Caves. Princeton: P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for East Asian Art, Princeton University, in association with Princeton University Press, 2021.*          

Hansen, Valerie. The Silk Road: A New History. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.

 Hopkirk, Peter. Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities and Treasures of Chinese Central Asia. London: Murray, 1980.

Rong Xinjiang. Eighteen Lectures on Dunhuang. Translated by Imre Galambos. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2013. 

 Whitfield, Susan. Silk, Slaves, and Stupas: Material Culture of the Silk Road. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2018.

Whitfield, Roderick, Susan Whitfield, and Neville Agnew. Cave Temples of Mogao at Dunhuang:

Art and History on the Silk Road. 2^nd ed. Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute, 2015.

* Available from Princeton University Press

https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691208169/visualizing-dunhuang 20% discount through 31 August 2021. Enter code FRDUN at checkout.

Dora C.Y. Ching                                                                                    2021-06-30

PA3 INVITES YOU TO “SECOND TUESDAYS”

A PRINCETON PROPELLER ZOOM EVENT

UWMA @ QUADRANGLE CLUB

FOR ENTREPRENEURS,
NAVIGATORS & THE CURIOUS
Please Join Us with Cocktails & Hors d’oeuvres

WHEREVER YOU ARE

7 P, EASTERN TIME (USA) -- TUESDAY, October 12th, 2021

“Joby Aviation & The Future of Urban Mobility”

Speakers:  Madelyn “Mattie” Baron & Daniel R Santillan

Equipment Design & Software Verification Engineers

Over the past decade, the population of urban areas in the US grew by 9 percent, with 86 percent now living in metropolitan regions --- two trends likely to continue.  Concomitant burdens of congestion, combined with carbon emissions in transportation, have created a dire problem in urgent need of solution.  Enter:  eVTOL --- electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft with zero emissions and greatly reduced noise levels that use electric power to take off, land, and hover vertically.  This past August, Santa Cruz, CA-based Joby Aviation became the first US-based eVTOL company to become publicly traded.  Its goal is to make aerial ride-sharing and emissions-free flight, new parts of our everyday lives.  Following a general overview of eVTOL technology and how it differs from other aircraft, our speakers will detail:  specifics of Joby’s approach and operations; how to use eVTOL to get where you want to go; and how it’s likely to transform our cities and improve our lives.

To receive the Zoom link, please register by October 10th:   propellers.princetonaaa.org

NEXT PRINCETON PROPELLER: Tuesday, November 9th, 2021 (7 P)

Princeton Area Alumni Association

Annual (virtual) Meeting

Thursday, October 21st, 7 to 830 pm

To register for this event, click here.

PA3 is pleased to announce that the speaker for our Annual Meeting will be Rachael DeLue, Christopher Binyon Sarofin ’86 Professor in American Art; Professor of Art and Archaeology and American Studies; and Chair, Department of Art and Archaeology, ?Princeton University.  She will present:  The Art and Science of Impossible Images.  This talk is based on her research and an upcoming book and explores the ways in which artists depict ideas or phenomena that are not possible to directly represent visually, such as music and time.  There will be time for Q&A after her presentation.

We will also be conducting a (short) annual business meeting as well as holding an election for regional officers.

To register for this event, click here.

Any questions regarding registration may be sent to Mo Chen.

BIOGRAPHIES OF CANDIDATES FOR OFFICERS/DIRECTOR OF THE PRINCETON AREA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION 2021

(A copy of the Constitution and of the by-laws of the Association describing the functions of officers and directors, terms of office and other matters may be found under the Governance tab)

NOMINEE FOR RE-ELECTION AS PRESIDENT TOM SWIFT '76

At Princeton Tom majored in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, graduating in 1976.  After graduate studies at Stanford and Michigan, he returned to NJ and now lives 20 minutes north of Princeton.  He began participating in PA3 activities in 2010 and was elected President in 2019.  Tom is also an active member and past chair of the Princetoniana Committee of the Alumni Council, an ASC interviewer, and a P-rade marshal inducted into the Society of the Claw.  He is presently Chief Technical Officer of Cat-Ears, a company that makes products that reduce wind noise.  Formerly Tom was president of an IT equipment manufacturer, and prior to that served in many capacities at Lucent Technologies, AT&T, and Bell Laboratories.  Tom and his wife Petra divide their time between NJ and Germany.  He has a son Thomas and a daughter Logan, both of whom reside in NJ.

NOMINEE FOR RE-ELECTION AS VICE PRESIDENT MO CHEN '80

Mo is currently serving her second year as Vice President of the Princeton Area Alumni Association (PA3).  She is also serving her second year on the Board of Advisors of the Asian American Alumni Association of Princeton (A4P) after serving 15 or so years as a governor, one term as chair and another as treasurer.  For PA3 Mo has been organizing Zoom wine tastings and lectures during the pandemic.  Within A4P she has coordinated many events, including the annual Reunions and Lunar New Year activities. She was also an active supporter of the creation of the Asian-American Studies Program certificate. She has mentored new leaders for A4P by networking with alumni and students. Her other Princeton volunteer activities have been with the Friends of the Davis International Center as Coordinator of Individual English Instruction, Annual Giving as a participation solicitor, Alumni Schools Committee as an interviewer, and Council of the Princeton University Community as an alumni representative.   She is now a part-time event coordinator with the Department of Art & Archaeology at Princeton.   At Princeton, she majored in the Woodrow Wilson School and earned a certificate in the East Asian Studies Program.  She holds an M.A. in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts, with concentrations in International Business, International Finance, and Asian Diplomatic History and Foreign Policy. She and husband Arnold have two children. 

NOMINEE FOR ELECTION AS DIRECTOR DIANE HASLING '79

Diane is currently completing an unexpired term as director of PA3, as well as serving as the chair of the Princeton Women’s Network of the Princeton Area.  She is also a member of the PWN Advisory Council, a member of the Service of Remembrance Committee, and a P-rade marshal.  Diane has served on the Alumni Council Executive Committee as chair of the Committee on Reunions, Committee on Nominations, and Committee on Awards for Service to Princeton.  She was an alumni representative to the Council of the Princeton University Community and a member of the Committee to Nominate Alumni Trustees.  She is active in her Class, for which she co-chaired their 20th and 25th reunions, and served as class president.  Diane is Vice President of Applied Educational Research, a small company focused on higher education admission studies.  At Princeton, Diane majored in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.  She also holds an M.S. from Stanford in Computer Science/Artificial Intelligence.  Diane and her husband Bill have three children, the oldest of whom is Princeton ’10.

PA3 cordially invites you to a

Natural and Low Intervention Wine Tasting

Saturday, September 25, 2021

6:00 pm – 7:30 pm.

Via Zoom

While no legal definitions of natural wine currently exist, various official-ish ones do, set by groups of growers in various countries, including France, Italy and Spain. These self-regulated charters of quality are far stricter than regulations imposed by official organic or biodynamic certification bodies. All require a minimum of organic farming in the vineyard but prohibit the use of any additives, processing aids or heavy manipulation equipment in the cellar, with the exception of gross filtration, which most tolerate and sulfites, which varies according to association. 

Optional Cost: $74 plus tax for four bottles of wine plus a seminar with a certified sommelier and educator. It is not required to purchase the wines or buy all 3 bottles.  See below for cheese pairings.

For Zoom instructions, RSVP with affiliation by September 21st to Mo Chen ’80 at mochen1746@outlook.com.

Wine Details

We have again arranged a wine tasting in partnership with Public Wines, 23 Witherspoon St. Our certified Sommelier and educator for the evening will be Sebastian Koncurat, who has 20 years of experience in the wine and culinary industries.

Click here for the description of the four natural wines, and how to purchase them.  Further details plus cheese pairings will be sent to registrants.

Please purchase or reserve wines by noon on Tuesday, September 21st. This will help Public Wine order enough in advance.

Please note that if you buy 12 bottles or more, you can get a 15% discount by using promotional code PA3.

Public offers free delivery to the following zip codes: 08502, 08504, 08525, 08528, 08534, 08536,08540,08542,08553, and 08558. Promotional code: Freeship

If you live outside these zip codes, please order online or call and pick up at the store. If you have questions for Public Wine, please call 609 924 0750 and they will be happy to help you. Please mention PA3 wine tasting.

Olsson’s link for pairing cheeses