“The
Enigmatic Rock Reliefs at Taq-I-Bustan: A Late Sasanian Site on the “Silk
Road”
By Matteo
Compareti, Visiting Professor, U.C. Berkeley
Wednesday,
February 3, at 7:30 p.m.
Knight
Building Room 102, 521 Memorial Way, Stanford University
The unfinished monument at Taq-i Bustan include two artificially carved
grottoes and a typical celebrative Sasanian rock relief. The Persian sovereign
who built Taq-i Bustan cannot be identified for certain since the problematic
crown that he wears in the reliefs of the larger grotto does not present any
clear parallel in Sasanian coinage. Art historians have recently proposed some
ideas about different phases in the construction of that monument with very
convincing arguments that could even find some support in Islamic written
sources. It is highly probable that a usurper who came from Central Asia and
imported many external elements (namely Sogdian) in Persia initiated the larger
grotto at Taq-i Bustan. This could be the reason of the occurrence of unique
textile decorations just on the garments of the relevant people on those rock
reliefs. Those decorative elements have been probably introduced from Central
Asia into Sasanian Persia and not vice–versa.
Prof. Campareti received his Ph. D. from the
University of Naples “L’Orientale” in 2005 and his degree
in Oriental Languages and Literatures, from the University of Venice “Ca’
Foscari” (cum laude) in 1999. His books and monographs include
1) I popoli iranici e la navigazione nell’Oceano
Indiano, Venezia, 2005.
2) Literary Evidence for the
Identification of Some Common Scenes in Han Funerary Art, (“Sino-Platonic
Papers”, 160; Philadelphia: Department of East Asian Languages and
Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania, September 2005).
3) With
Simone Cristoforetti, The Chinese Scene at Afrāsyāb and the Iranian Calendar,
Venice, 2007.
4) Traces
of Buddhist Art in Sogdiana, (“Sino-Platonic Papers”, 181; Philadelphia:
Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of
Pennsylvania, August 2008).
5) Samarcanda
Centro del Mondo. Proposte di lettura del ciclo pittorico di Afrāsyāb,
Milano-Udine, 2009.
6) With
Touraj Daryaee and Khodadad Rezakhani, Iranians on the Silk Road. Merchants,
Kingdoms and Religions, Beverly Hills, 2010.
Sponsored
by the Silkroad Foundation and the Center for East Asian Studies.
Coming up:
“Trans-Himalyan
Transmissions: Sino-Sogdian Textile Heritage in Tibetan Areas”
By
Mariachiara Gasparini, lecturer, Santa Clara University
Wednesday,
March 2, at 7:30 p.m.
Knight
Building Room 102, 521 Memorial Way, Stanford University
