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Buddhist monastery of the 7th century ad to first half of the 8th, in the valley of the Vakhsh River, 12 km east of Kurgan-Tyube, southern Tajikistan. During this early medieval period it belonged to Vakhsh (U-sha in Chinese sources), one of the 27 domains of Tokharistan. Excavations between 1960 and 1975 by the Academy of Sciences, Tajikistan, and the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, exposed the entire site; most of the finds are on loan to the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. The buildings, which covered an area of 100×50 m, were constructed of mud-bricks (c. 490×250×110 mm) and rammed earth, with walls surviving to a height of 5.5 to 6.0 m. The site comprised two square complexes linked by an enfilade of three rooms (see fig. (a)). The south-eastern complex or monastery (b) had domed cells (c) for monks, a hall or refectory (d), service quarters, store-rooms and a small sanctuary (e). An open courtyard in the centre had a fired brick path across it, linking the enfilade to the sanctuary. A corridor around the perimeter of the courtyard was divided into four right-angled sections by a deep iwan, or vestibule, in the middle of each side. One of these vestibules led into the sanctuary, the second into the meeting-hall, the third into the enfilade and the fourth to the monastery exit (j) and also on to a vaulted ramp (k) that originally gave access to the roof and the now lost second storey....

(Margaret Lowthian)

(b Washington, Co. Durham, July 14, 1868; d Baghdad, 11/July 12, 1926).

English archaeologist and architectural historian. The first woman to achieve a first-class honours in modern history at Oxford University, she travelled widely in Europe, Japan and especially the Middle East in the 1890s, achieving fluency in a number of European languages as well as in Persian, Turkish and Arabic. She developed an interest in archaeology and architecture that was reflected in an authoritative set of articles on the Early Byzantine churches of Syria and southern Turkey, based on her travels in 1905. Her first major travel book, The Desert and the Sown, contains a mixture of travellers’ tales and archaeological information, as does her Amurath to Amurath. Between 1905 and 1914 she made archaeological studies of the Early Byzantine and Early Islamic monuments of Turkey, Syria and Mesopotamia (now Iraq). In 1905 and 1907 she surveyed Binbirkilise with Sir William Ramsay; their book, The Thousand and One Churches, remains the authoritative account of this important site. The architectural recording by survey and photography at Binbirkilise was carried out by Bell and is a lasting monument in its own right. Bell’s interest in Anatolia was inspired by Josef Strzygowski and his book ...

Chinese, 14th century, male.

Active c. 1280-1329.

Born in Yongjia (Zhejiang).

Painter.

Wang Zhen Peng was an architect as well as a painter of architecture. He was well-known for his jiehua (fine-line, highly detailed architectural drawing). He also painted landscapes. He was very much appreciated by the emperor Renzong (...

Chinese, 14th century, male.

Active c. 1350-1370.

Born in Tiantai (Zhejiang).

Painter.

Wei Jiuding painted landscapes in the style of Wang Zhenpeng. He practised jiehua (fine-line, highly detailed architectural drawing).

Chinese, 10th century, male.

Active in Nanjing.

Painter. Figures, scenes with figures, genre scenes, landscapes, architectural views.

Wei Xian was a court painter under the Southern Tang dynasty (923-936), during the period of the Five Dynasties. He specialised in houses, trees and figures. The Palace Museum in Beijing has in its collection a work in ink on silk, attributed to him but of a later date, entitled ...

Chinese, 7th century, male.

Active during the Tang dynasty.

Born c. 600, in Wannian (Shenxi); died 673.

Painter.

Yan Liben was a senior official, painter and architect who worked at the Tang capital, Chang’an. Along with his brother Yan Lide, he was one of the towering figures of Tang civilisation, that great dynasty whose influence would be felt for centuries. He was born into a family from the grand aristocracy. His mother was a Zhou princess and his father, Yan Bi, a celebrated painter and architect during the Northern Zhou and Sui dynasties who, as president of imperial works under Emperor Yangdi (605-617), had directed a number of works including the construction of the Grand Canal and the restoration of the Great Wall. He would hand on his skills and knowledge to his sons Liben and Lide. Lide, in fact, would in turn become minister of public works and build palaces, fortifications and imperial tombs, which he would adorn with paintings....

Chinese, 12th century, male.

Active during the first half of the 12th century.

Born in Dongwu (Shandong).

Painter. Local scenes, river landscapes, architectural views.

Zhang Zeduan was known as a painter of architecture, and especially liked boats and carts, markets and bridges, moats and paths, as the colophon to his famous handscroll ...

Chinese, 12th century, male.

Active in Kaifeng (Henan) then Hangzhou (Zhejiang).

Born c. 1120; died c. 1182.

Painter. History painting, scenes with figures, genre scenes, landscapes, architectural views.

Zhao Boju was a descendant of the first Song emperor and the son of the well-known painter Zhao Lingrang. He initially worked at the imperial painting academy in Kaifeng before moving to Hangzhou, where he became the favourite artist of Emperor Gaozong (...