Himalayan Art Resources

Collection of The Ashmolean Museum Main Page (Painting)

Ashmolean Museum | Collections Main Page

Oxford University: Ashmolean Museum | Jameel Center (Ashmolean Museum) Collection Online | Bodleian Libraries | Saint Antony's College | Pitt Rivers Museum


Database Search: All Images | Painting | Sculpture | Mandala

Subjects, Topics & Types:
- History of the Ashmolean (below)
- Sculpture Page: Topics & Subjects
- Block Prints
- Block Prints: Deities
- Block Prints: Shakyamuni Life Story
- Block Prints: Shakyamuni & Arhats
- Block Prints: Teachers
- Buddhas
- Incarnation Lineages
- Mandalas & Charts
- Masterworks & Unique Subjects
- Painting Sets & Topics
- Peaceful Deities
- Refuge Field
- Textiles
- Wheel of Life
- Wrathful Deities
- Others...

Seven Types of Function & Motivation in the creation of objects in the Ashmolean Museum collection:
- Devotional, reflective (sacred)
- Didactic, instructional (matter of fact)
- Narrative, biographical (story-telling)
- Utilitarian, ritual (functional)
Memorial
- Commodity, necessity (imperative)
- Decorative

The strength of the Ashmolean collection is with the large number of Indian and Himalayan style sculpture along with a small collection of very fine paintings that have been kept in excellent condition.

History of the Ashmolean

"The present Ashmolean was created in 1908 by combining two ancient Oxford institutions: the University Art Collection and the original Ashmolean Museum. The older partner in this merger, the University Art Collection, was based for many years in what is now the Upper Reading Room in the Bodleian Library. The collection began modestly in the 1620s with a handful of portraits and curiosities displayed in a small room on the upper floor. In 1636 and 1657, Archbishop Laud and Ralph Freke added notable collections of coins and medals, later installed in a strong room of their own and now incorporated into the Ashmolean coin collection." (The Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology Britain's oldest public museum, Oxford, England).

Jeff Watt 5-2015