J. Ph. Vogel’s Buddhist Art in India, Ceylon and Java is an English translation of the original De Buddhistische Kunst Van Voor-Indiee, enlarged in scope and including also an account of the Buddhist art of Ceylon and Java. The present book has been written with the chief object to give a historical outline of Indo-Buddhist art, to sketch its various schools in their main characteristics and to trace their mutual relationship. Attempt has also been made to show by Vogel in what manner the artistic phenomena must have followed the religious developments and spiritual movements. Apart from an Introduction giving a brief background, the entire period of nearly fifteen hundred years of Buddhist art from the third century B.C. to the twelfth century A.D. has been covered in seven chapters and two chapters respectively on the Buddhist art of Ceylon and Java. Coming as it does from the pen of J. Ph. Vogel, the Buddhist Art in India, Ceylon and Java commends itself as a most useful handbook on the subject. The book contains a very representative selection of photographs on the subject included in thirty-nine plates apart from a ground-plan of Borobodur, the great monument of the Mahayana, with its harmonious blending of Indian and local elements and wonderful display of sculptural decoration. The book also contains an index and bibliography giving titles of principal works of reference.
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