Silk Road

Besides just art along the Silk Road I'll try to explore the connections between East and West here; ancient mostly and perhaps some more recent. You really can’t overestimate the search for commodities and the influence of trade routes in shaping our history and culture. Columbus was seeking an alternative to the old Silk Road when he bumped into the Americas. Via Silk Road traveled both evils such as plague and gun powder as well as ideas and inventions like the printing press. And how about fossil fuels shaping our economy and politics today?

202 Pins

Heta Davis

an ornately decorated building with lots of windows and balconies on the second floor

Muslim Architecture

Front Porch Pictures

Porch Pictures

Contemporary Victorian

Expensive Decor

Home Decor Catalogs

Traditional Contemporary

Italian Decor

Desert Homes

Dix types de maisons chinoises – Douce Cahute

Uighur house in China influenced with Muslim architecture

A controversial hypothesis, put forward by amateur historian Gavin Menzies, suggests that China discovered the Americas 70 years before Columbus. He bases his theory on an alleged 18th century copy of a 1418 map charted by Chinese Admiral Zheng He, which appears to show the New World in some detail Zheng He, Ancient World Maps, Ancient Maps, Map Globe, Old World Maps, Ancient Origins, Ancient Mysteries, Old Maps, World Literature

East Asia traded with the New World 2,600 years ago, say scientists

A controversial hypothesis, put forward by amateur historian Gavin Menzies, suggests that China discovered the Americas 70 years before Columbus. He bases his theory on an alleged 18th century copy of a 1418 map charted by Chinese Admiral Zheng He, which appears to show the New World in some detail

an old piece of cloth with gold and blue designs

Textile fragment from Loulan, China. Loulan also called Krorän or Kroraina, was an ancient kingdom based around an important oasis city along the Silk Road.

an ancient head is shown against a black background

Head of a Bodhisattva | Unknown | V&A Explore The Collections

Head of a Bodhisattva. Peshawar region, Gandhara, Pakistan. 3rd-5thC, V&A Collections.

A Gold Diadem with Turquoise, Carnelian and Coral, 2nd century BC - 1st century AD, Almaty, Kazakhstan. The Kargaly Diadem was buried in a pit on the southern edge of the steppe in the northern foothills of the Tianshan mountains some 2000 years ago. It may have been a diplomatic gift from the Han imperial court to western tribes. Technological details suggest that it was produced within the western borderlands beyond China. Scythian Artifacts, Scythian Gold, Nomadic Art, Art Quiz, Almaty Kazakhstan, Art Newspaper, Antique Pictures, 3d Images, Art News

The Ancient World

A Gold Diadem with Turquoise, Carnelian and Coral, 2nd century BC - 1st century AD, Almaty, Kazakhstan. The Kargaly Diadem was buried in a pit on the southern edge of the steppe in the northern foothills of the Tianshan mountains some 2000 years ago. It may have been a diplomatic gift from the Han imperial court to western tribes. Technological details suggest that it was produced within the western borderlands beyond China.

a silver and green bowl with designs on it

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Silver drinking cup. The decoration on this cup is leaves and medallions with human busts inside of them. Bactria, 3rd of 4th century AD

a statue of a camel with a saddle on it's back

Centuries Past

China, Shaanxi province (Chinese), Bactrian Camel , 675/750, earthenware with sancai (three color) glaze, The Portland Art Museum

a painting of a woman in black and white

The Mongol Empire had enjoyed such prestige that medieval women of Europe imitated it with the hennin, a large cone-shaped headdress that sat towards the back of the head rather than rising straight up from it as among the Mongols. With no good source of peacock feathers, European noblewomen generally substituted gauzy streamers flowing in the wind at the top. (Weatherford: Secret History of the Mongol Queens)