Tibetan Buddhist art is not only rich in figural icons but also extremely diverse in its symbols and ritual objects. This first systematic review is an abundantly illustrated reference book on Tibetan ritual art that aids our understanding of its different types and forms, its sacred meanings and ceremonial functions. Eighteen chapters, several hundred different implements are documented in detail, in many cases for the first time and often in their various styles and iconographic forms: altar utensils and amulets, masks and mirrors, magic daggers and mandalas, torma sculptures and prayer objects, vajras and votive tablets, sacrificial vessels and oracle crowns, stupas and spirit traps, ritual vases, textiles, furniture, and symbolic emblems. These are accompanied by many historical and modern text sources, as well as rare recorded oral material from high-ranking Tibetan masters. This long-awaited handbook is a must-have for all those with an interest in Buddhist art and religion.

Marc Held made history in 1965 with his famous Culbuto armchair and followed it in 1966 with furniture manufactured by Prisunic. Over a period of fifty years, he created some 150 furniture pieces, notably participating in the interior design of the apartments in the Élysée Palace in 1983. Beginning in the 1970s, he also designed singular works of architecture, for individuals and for corporate clients such as IBM. At the end of the 1980s he chose to focus entirely his passion when he settled on the Greek island of Skopelos. Interested in vernacular architecture, he dedicated a widely acknowledged book on Greece, Maisons de Skopelos, précis d’architecture in 1994, to it. It was also on Skopelos where over a period of thirty years he built eight exceptional villas: Lemonia, Maistros, Nina, Loukas, The Temple, Mourtia, Myrto and Kapsari. Each house is an architectural manifesto in its own right. These eight villas, in spectacular locations beside the sea, built with local materials and in accordance with the construction techniques of the island – all the artisans were from there – with the magical landscapes in which they are integrated, are eight lessons on the notion of genius loci, which so inspired Marc Held’s architecture. Photographed by Deidi von Schaewen – with spectacular shots taken via drone-mounted cameras – his eight beautiful villas are also presented with his drawings and plans developed during their conception phases. Text in English and French.

Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999) was one of the most innovative furniture and interior designers of the twentieth century, long renowned for the tubular-steel chairs she created with le Corbusier. Her career spanned nearly seventy-five years and included work in her native France as well as in Africa, South America, Asia, and Europe, and today her designs are highly collectable. Recently, several hundred photographic negatives were uncovered in her archives, revealing for the first time the scope of her work as a photographer. In the late 1920s, French interior and furniture designer Charlotte Perriand was at the cusp of her career, just beginning her work as an architect, designer, town planner, and political militant. Starting in 1927, she turned to photography, which was to play a pivotal role in her development as a designer through the pioneering years of the modern movement. Her photographic venture ended in Japan in 1941, when the hope of a better world was shattered by World War II. For Charlotte Perriand, photography was a machine for thinking, taking notes, and stirring emotions, but it was also an instrument of political engagement. Today, her photographs are a revelation, offering unseen glimpses into her creative process and intellectual development. Her photographs express the important themes and questions explored by modern artists of the day, and are part of the vast stream of avant-garde movements in which painters, architects, and photographers – and sometimes all three combined – worked together in a common spirit.

Taoism is perhaps the least understood of the world’s major religions and here, for the first time, is a concise introduction to its many-faceted beliefs. This book covers the key deities, temples, and sacred places, as well as Taoism’s core texts and scriptures.

This third and final volume of the Famous Japanese Swordsmen trilogy presents more thrilling narrative based on solid sword history. The Period of Unification was one of the great turning points in Japan’s medieval era. After more than two centuries of civil strife Japan finally found its way back to peace and order under three successive rulers: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. The final drive came in the fall of 1600, when Japan’s eastern and western warlords faced each other in the Battle of Sekigahara. It was a decisive battle, in which each and every man who called himself a warrior faced the stark choice between the forces of division and those of unification. Two such men were Ono Jirôemon Tadaaki and Yagyû Tajima no Kami Munenori. Tadaaki, a swordsman from the Kanto, had lost his family and home to become a ronin, a masterless samurai, forced to lead the life of a wanderer. Munenori hailed from the Home Provinces. His clan had first lost its castle, then its lands, until finally they were thrown upon the mercy of a local temple. Having lost everything, both men staked their lives and futures on the victory of the eastern forces.

In 24 short essays, Professor Robert Thorp takes reader on a guided tour of some of the most important archaeological discoveries in China of the century. These sites start with the “cave home” of Peking Man near Beijing and conclude with the of the Wanli emperor (d. 1620) in the Ming Valley north of the capital. While some of these sites were always known, if not excavated, many of these finds opened new chapters in Chinese history , art, and culture.

In this follow-up to Visiting China’s Past, Professor Robert Thorp offers a guided tour of historic Beijing. Beginning with early cities that preceded the modern capital, the author introduces Dadu, established by Khubilai Khan in 1267 and known to Marco Polo as Cambaluc. This guide’s focus, however, is the great architectural monuments of the Ming and Qing dynasties (ca. 1421-1912). Altogether, thirty-two sites are explored in detail: the city’s walls and gates; the imperial city and palaces (the Forbidden City); state altars and imperial tombs; Buddhist and Daoist temples as well as mosques; and residences (both princely mansions and courtyard houses) and gardens. A final chapter summarizes developments of the early twentieth century. Each chapter discusses the history and cultural context of these sites, while entries describe the main structures complemented by numerous plans, photographs, and diagrams. Although both chapters and entries “stand alone,” extensive cross-referencing encourages readers to find related information, and each chapter concludes with suggested titles for further reading. A list of suggested walking tours and an extensive bibliography (both English and Chinese) complete the text. Visiting Historic Beijing is an excellent guide for anyone planning to visit Beijing, and a fascinating introduction to Chinese culture through the architecture and urban planning of one of the world’s most magnificent capitals.

The career of Y.G. Srimati – classical singer, musician, dancer and painter – represents a continuum in which each of these skills and experiences merged, influencing and pollinating each other.

Born in Mysore in 1926, Srimati was part of the generation much influenced by the rediscovery of a classical Sanskrit legacy devoted to the visual arts. Soon swept up in the nationalist movement for an independent India, she was deeply moved by the time she spent with Mahatma Gandhi. For the young Srimati, the explicit referencing of the past and of religious subjects came together in an unparalleled way, driven by the conscious striving for an indigenous agenda. This experience gave form and meaning to her art, and largely defined her style.

As John Guy demonstrates in this sumptuous volume, as a painter of the mid and late twentieth century, Y.G. Srimati embodied a traditionalist position, steadfast in her vision of an Indian style, one which resonated with those who knew India best.

Elephants occupy a special place in the life and art of India. Since ancient times, they have been treasured and pampered as the ultimate beasts of burden, venerated as the vehicles of gods and kings and even worshipped in their own right. Their legendary attributes of strength, intelligence, nobility and longevity are eulogized in myth, epic and popular literature. In figurative and decorative arts, elephants provide an enduring fascination. Elephant Kingdom traces the myriad stories and symbolisms behind India’s much-loved animal through its depictions in architectural sculpture. At the heart of the study is a collection of over sixty color photographs from a diversity of antique settings, many of them in remote parts of the subcontinent. At centuries-old temples, monasteries, forts and palaces, elephants flank ceremonial entrances, enrich columns, form balustrades to stairways or stand as enigmatic sentinels of vast courtyards. Some are legendary characters in tales of dreams and salvation; others enact scenes from a faithfully observed natural history. Some transport kings and heroes into battle and the hunt, others are celestial messengers of rain, fertility and good fortune. From monumental freestanding sculptures to finely-worked narrative friezes, the warmth and energy of these depictions bear testimony to the achievements of countless anonymous artisans.

Drawing on the photographic albums in the personal collection of Sir John Marshall, Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India from 1902-1928, this volume is a study exploring multiple perceptions of Indian history and related scholarship produced through archaeological fieldwork during the colonial period. The book highlights major sites such as Sanchi, Sarnath, Mohenjodaro and Taxila – often referred to as Marshall’s archaeological triumphs. With over 100 illustrations and an extensive bibliography, this book offers a detailed account of the investigative technique that developed into a commanding disciplinary science-archaeology within British India. Co-published with Alkazi Collection of Photography.

Embodied Vision delves into a series of representations Fatehpur Sikri has been subjected to and concludes that there is an inexorable tension at its core embodied in the constantly shifting axes, complex rhythms, raising or lowering of the ground planes, juxtapositions of mythical symbols and the conflicting pulls of traditions and human will. The space of Fatehpur Sikri is revealed to us through perception more than through geometry. Professor Mehta’s unconventional interpretation of the architecture of Fatehpur Sikri emanates from his exploration of the history of architectural representation and leads him to conclude that the tools of designing, representation and analysis, which we normally use today, did not exist in sixteenth-century India when Fatehpur Sikri was built. These drawings, which assume our “mind’s eye” hovering above the city and taking in the whole of reality at once, have failed to represent the existential lived experience of inhabitation of architecture.

Covering eight classical dance forms of India – Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Kathakali, Manipuri, Mohiniattam, Odissi and Sattriya – Leela Venkataraman seamlessly weaves together a historical perspective with the contemporary scenario. Stripped of their association with the temple and the court, classical dance traditions in India went through a series of unprecedented change in the period marking the last few years of British rule and thereafter. From becoming part of the nationalist struggle when India was trying to rediscover its lost identity, to sharing the international stage today with dance forms from all over the world, the last sixty-six years have seen many changes in perspective and presentation of Indian Classical Dance – some intentional, others involuntary. While looking at these years closely and their impact on dance forms, one realises that this is a phase in an ongoing process, with each new generation of dancers and musicians adding to an already rich tapestry of tradition.

In 2010, the two Lausanne architects Eric Frei and Kaveh Rezakhanlou produced an exceptional school facility in Chermignon, Lower Valais. Like a Greek temple, it has the power to combine the landscape, topography, urban morphology and building type. The architects have also designed further projects with great architectural qualities.

Text in English and German.

“Pure and beautiful, she glows like the moon behind clouds.”

The time is the 12th Century, the place Cambodia, birthplace of the lost Angkor civilisation. In a village behind a towering stone temple lives a young woman named Sray, whom neighbors liken to the heroine of a Hindu epic. Hiding a dangerous secret, she is content with quiet obscurity, but one rainy season afternoon is called to a life of prominence in the royal court. There her faith and loyalties are tested by attentions from the great king Suryavarman II. Struggling to keep her devotion is her husband Nol, palace confidante and master of the silk parasols that were symbols of the monarch’s rank.

This lovingly crafted first novel by former Washington Post correspondent John Burgess revives the rites and rhythms of the ancient culture that built the temples of Angkor, then abandoned them to the jungle.

In telling her tale, Sray takes the reader to a hilltop monastery, a concubine pavilion and across the seas to the throne room of imperial China. She witnesses the construction of the largest of the temples, Angkor Wat, and offers an explanation for its greatest mystery – why it broke with centuries of tradition to face west instead of east.

Author and photographer John Lander takes the magnificent UNESCO World Heritage sites of Japan as a starting point for exploring the country’s architecture, history, customs and festivals. Lander, who has lived in Japan for 35 years, traveled to almost all the country’s UNESCO sites: from well-known places like Mount Fuji to hidden temple gardens and hard-to-reach wild islands. This book also includes cultural elements listed as intangible world heritage, providing intimate portraits of Japanese cuisine, crafts and performance arts. With a lyrical preface by Pico Iyer and illustrated with over 180 full-color photographs, World Heritage Japan is Lander’s personal photographic tribute to a diverse and ancient culture – a stunning visual journey across Japan.

Ranthambhore National Park is a vast wildlife reserve in Rajasthan, northern India. It is a former royal hunting ground and home to tigers, leopards and marsh crocodiles. Its landmarks – both natural and manmade – include the imposing 10th-century Ranthambhore Fort, the Ganesh Mandir temple, and Padam Talao Lake, known for its abundance of water lilies. It is one of the world’s finest places to view wildlife. The Park is also a crucial tiger habitat. As Rhajastan’s former Minister for Tourism, as well as for Forests and the Environment, Bina Kak had unprecedented access to the Park. There she focused on individual tigers, tigresses, and tiger families. Unlike other photography books on the Park, this book focuses on the unique traits – or personalities – of single animals or groups, for example how a male tiger mothered his cubs when they were separated from the tigress. Her stunning photographs include views not easily accessible or are completely unavailable to other photographers, and will certainly appeal to conservationists, environmentalists, travelers, those interested in nature photography, or anyone engaged with the future of these magnificent animals.

This essential travel guide to Southern India’s varied heritage covers all the major Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and European historical monuments and sites in Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. There are amazing descriptions of forts and palaces, temple architecture, sculpture and painting, mosques and tombs, churches and civic buildings. Plan trips by using the travel-friendly itineraries, accompanied by useful location maps. This essential travel guide contains comprehensive coverage of the region’s cities and monuments, museums, and archaeological sites. It includes all the major sites the great port cities of Mumbai, Chennai and Kochi; the citadels of Golconda, Vijaynagara and Gingee; the rock-cut sanctuaries at Ajanta and Ellora; the temples at Badami, Halebid and Thanjuvar; the mosques of Hyderabad and Bijapur; and the cathedrals at Goa and hundreds of less well-known places.

This is the catalogue of the 2018 Leeds, UK, exhibition celebrating the tercentenary of Thomas Chippendale’s birth. It covers all 95 exhibits including furniture, drawings, engravings, textiles and wallpaper, together with other contemporary and later material. Each entry is illustrated in color, with supporting images in both color and black and white. Also included are introductory essays to each section of the exhibition, covering Chippendale’s life and career, his furniture styles, his relationships with customers, and his legacy from the 18th century to the present day.

In 1930s Luang Prabang, the beautiful and demure Kham-Phiou was much admired. On a New Year’s Day, the life of the aristocratic young woman changed when she caught the eye of a sophisticated older man – Prince Souvanna Phouma. The prince fell madly in love with Kham-Phiou and was determined to marry her against all odds. His family wanted a marriage within the dynasty, while her widowed mother feared Palace intrigues. After the wedding, life in the prince’s family home was difficult, but Kham-Phiou began to adapt until the prince decided they should move to Vientiane for the sake of his career. The tale of the tragic love story spans over half a century and is set against the little-known backdrop of old-world Laos where ancient customs and superstitions still held sway.

In this charming and moving personal account incorporating the social history of Laos, Manisamouth, granddaughter of Kham-Phiou, brings her grandmother’s untold story to life, accompanied by evocative black and white photographs, family trees of the Luang Prabang Royals and Kham-Phiou’s lineage, and includes a section on Lao history.

This book considers how and why people bought, sold, donated, and received works of art during Japan’s Edo period (1600-1868), when opportunities to obtain art increased as audiences for art expanded. Many urbanites enjoyed money in their pockets and access to information, which allowed them to emerge as influential consumers. With this, patronage of art by a small cohort of powerful and wealthy individuals gave way to support of art by a broader audience and, concurrently, exchanges between those making art and those acquiring art developed into new and dynamic interactions. The study of Edo-period art acquisition is comparatively new, but important to those seeking greater knowledge about art objects, as well as many others looking to understand the social life of visual forms. Some contributors to this volume examine broad themes like art and the marketplace, or art and political dissent; others explore cases of ownership by ranking officials, imperial ladies, temple abbots, and business entrepreneurs. As a whole, the book allows for a deeper understanding of Edo-period acquisition practices, as well as a fuller comprehension of the vital connections between Japanese art and its audiences.

150 Gardens You Need to Visit before You Die profiles a selection of the most beautiful gardens in the world, renowned for their exceptional flora, imaginative designs, and inspiring locations. From Kew Gardens in London to the Singapore Botanical Gardens, and from Monet’s garden at Giverny to the Zen garden of the Ryōan-ji Temple in Kyoto, this handsomely bound book captures in words and images the most notable features of these 150 glorious, not-to-be-missed gardens. An essential bucket list book for garden lovers!