Oxford Launches Eastern Art Online


Standing Parvati, Tamil Nadu, mid-10th century AD

From Press Trust of India (PTI)

12th February 2010


For the first time, images of rare objects and artefacts from ancient India and other Asian countries have been made available Online by the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford.

Called Eastern Art Online: Yousef Jameel Centre of Islamic and Asian Art, the centre will provide global access to the university's Islamic and Asian Art collections held at the Ashmolean.

The collections span the Islamic West Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, China, Japan and Korea, and comprise a wide range of media, including ceramics, textiles, sculpture, metalwork, paintings, and prints.

The centre will initially focus on the objects and themes featured in the Ashmoleans new galleries for the Islamic and Asian Collections, with over 1,400 of the Museums great treasures of Eastern Art accessible online at launch.

This resource will be an invaluable tool for historians and students for research purposes, for craftsmen and designers seeking inspiration, and for an interested and curious public all over the world.

Mr Yousef Jameel, Hon. LHD, is a Fellow of the Ashmolean Museum. In 2005, he made a substantial benefaction to the Ashmolean to establish the Online Centre for Islamic and Asian Art, as well as the Centre for the Study of Eastern Art.

According to Mr Jameel, “Knowledge should be accessible to everyone, everywhere, at any time. The Online Centre for Islamic and Asian Art will be a major step towards achieving this goal. I envisage the Centre as the hub of a future worldwide network exploring how different cultures learnt from each other and enriched peoples’ lives as a result.”

1 comment:

Unknown said...

This are really good pictures.I have always loved these pictures .This is really first time i had the images of rare objects and artifacts from ancient India and other Asian Countries.The collection spans the Islamic West Asia, the Indian Sub Continent,Asia,China,Japan and Korea.