'The Life of the Buddha - Burmese Murals from the Late 16th to the Late 18th Centuries' is the first book to combine expertise in Burmese epigraphy, manuscript paleography, literary production, historiography, monastic history and Buddhist architecture with a close study of the visual vocabulary, iconography and stylistic features of murals. Resulting from a collaboration that began in 2009, this is also the first attempt to move from the examination of a few selected monuments with better preserved paintings to a comprehensive survey of all remaining murals regardless of their degree of preservation.
The authors significantly revise the accepted chronology of Burmese murals of the 17th and 18th centuries, provide a timeline of major iconographic innovations in the depiction of Buddhist narratives, and suggest definitions of a range of different styles developed during that timeframe. Indeed, this book provides the first chronological classification of mural styles from the late 16th to the late 18th century, tracing their origin in 14th and 15th century murals and putting them
in perspective with 19th century ones.
With over 500 mostly unpublished illustrations of monuments and murals, and translations of Burmese captions for more than 150 scenes from the life of the Buddha, this reference book is a milestone in the field of Burmese studies and a fascinating testimony to one of the major cultural heritages of Buddhist Asian art.
