Cover image for Technical analysis of medieval Himalayan Copper Alloy statues for provenance determination.
Technical analysis of medieval Himalayan Copper Alloy statues for provenance determination.
Title:
Technical analysis of medieval Himalayan Copper Alloy statues for provenance determination.
Author:
Reedy, Chandra Lee.
Personal Author:
Publication Information:
Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 1986
Physical Description:
1 online resource (459 p.)
General Note:
Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 47-07, Section: A.
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis.
Abstract:
A major problem in the art history of the medieval Himalayas has been the difficulty in reliably determining provenance of copper alloy statues. This difficulty is caused by many factors, including the lack of statues recovered from controlled archaeological excavations, few references in historical literature to art production, the mobility of artists and patrons, and portability of the statues. With date and place of manufacture uncertain, statues are of limited use in answering questions concerning the societies that produced and used them. Previous attempts to improve the certainty of attributions through a technical analysis of the objects have not been encouraging. However, this study takes a different approach which has proven successful in improving regional attributions for a group of 145 statues. The basis of this approach is an inter-disciplinary method, in which a wide range of technical and analytical data are combined with the existing art historical information. A major key to the success of the project is the use of appropriate multivariate statistical methods. The following types of evidence are considered: copper ore deposits available to Himalayan artists, political and economic factors governing access to and utilization of those deposits, casting and decorating techniques, evidence remaining from statue consecration ceremonies, elemental composition of statue metals, and mineralogical and elemental composition of clay core materials. The primary statistical technique employed for interpreting all data sets is the BMDP 7M stepwise discriminant analysis. The method employed begins with a critical evaluation of stylistic attributions which have been assigned to the statues. All statistical analyses are performed first using only those statues of plausible regional attribution, allowing the determination of technical criteria which differentiate the regional groups. In the next step of statistical analysis those discriminating technical variables are used to determine which regional group statues of uncertain or controversial attribution best fit. As a result of the technical analysis, many of the statues can now be regionally attributed with confidence to either Kashmir, north Pakistan, west Tibet, central Tibet, or Nepal.
Local Note:
School code: 0031.
Electronic Access:
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Thesis Note:
Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Los Angeles, 1986.
Field 805:
npmlib ysh
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