Tradition timeline · Works comparison · Key concepts · Exam traps
| # | Work | Date | Medium | Patron/Context | Key Concept |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Great Stupa, Sanchi | 3rd c. BCE–1st c. CE | Stone | Ashoka / Shunga | Aniconic Buddhism; circumambulation |
| 02 | Jetavanarama Dagoba | 3rd c. CE | Brick | King Mahasena | Relic enshrined; cosmic dome |
| 03 | Cave 285, Dunhuang | ca. 538–539 CE | Fresco | Local governor | Silk Road transmission; apsaras |
| 04 | Longmen Caves (Fengxian) | ca. 672–675 CE | Limestone | Empress Wu Zetian | State Buddhism; imperial likeness |
| 05 | Todaiji Temple | 743 CE / rebuilt 1700s | Wood | Emperor Shomu | Largest wooden structure; Daibutsu |
| 06 | Borobudur | ca. 750–842 CE | Andesite | Sailendra dynasty | 3D mandala; pilgrimage path |
| 07 | Angkor Wat | 1113–1150 CE | Sandstone | Suryavarman II | Temple-mountain; cosmic ocean moat |
| 08 | Lakshmana Temple | ca. 930–950 CE | Sandstone | Chandela Rajputs | Nagara shikhara; mithuna |
| 09 | Nataraja | 11th c. CE | Cast bronze | Chola dynasty | Ananda tandava; samsara ring |
| 10 | The David Vases | 1351 | Blue-and-white porcelain | Daoist shrine patron | Dated benchmark; cobalt from Persia |
| 11 | Forbidden City | 15th c.–present | Wood, tile | Yongle Emperor | Axial cosmology; 9,999 rooms |
| 12 | Portrait of Sin Sukju | 15th c. | Ink & color on silk | Joseon court | Gong-sin portrait; Confucian merit |
| 13 | Ryoan-ji | ca. 1480 | Raked gravel, rock | Zen Buddhist temple | Karesansui; mu (nothingness) |
| 14 | Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh | ca. 1615–1618 | Gouache & gold on paper | Jahangir / Bichitr | Hierarchical scale; European influence |
| 15 | Taj Mahal | 1632–1653 | White marble, pietra dura | Shah Jahan | Paradise garden; optical calligraphy |
| 16 | The Great Wave | 1830–33 | Woodblock print | Hokusai / commercial | Ukiyo-e; Prussian blue; Fuji |
| 17 | Borrowing Your Enemy's Arrows | 1998 | Boat, arrows, canvas | Cai Guo-Qiang | Diaspora; classical text + installation |
Hemispherical relic mound encoding Mount Meru. Circumambulated clockwise (pradakshina). Aniconic in early Buddhism — the Buddha represented by footprints, wheel, tree.
Borobudur's plan = mandala. Angkor Wat's layout = Hindu cosmos. The building IS the cosmogram — not merely decorated with one.
North Indian temples (Khajuraho) = nagara, curvilinear shikhara. South Indian temples = dravida, pyramidal gopuram gateways. The AP exam expects you to distinguish them.
Early Buddhist art avoids depicting the Buddha directly (empty throne, footprints). By Gandhara/Mathura period, anthropomorphic Buddha images appear. Sanchi = aniconic; Longmen = fully iconic.
Key block + color blocks, each printed separately. "Floating world" subject matter: actors, courtesans, landscapes. Hokusai's Great Wave required at least 10 blocks for Prussian blue gradations.
Hard stone inlay (semi-precious stones set into marble). Taj Mahal exterior and interior surfaces covered. Technique from Italian pietre dure — evidence of cross-cultural exchange via trade routes.
4-part walled garden divided by water channels representing the 4 rivers of paradise. Mughal (and Persian/Islamic) garden tradition. Taj Mahal's garden is its most intact surviving example.
Merit subject portrait — painted to honor officials who helped the king. Stored in ancestral shrine; used in death rites. Joseon dynasty under Neo-Confucian state ideology.
A stupa is not a building you enter — it is circumambulated externally. The interior (if any) is solid relic chamber. Angkor Wat is a temple; Sanchi is a stupa.
It has stacked platforms but is a mandala in 3D, not a mortuary pyramid. No burial inside — it enshrines relics and sculptures for pilgrimage.
The current structure (built 1709) is only ⅔ the width of the original 743 CE building. AP prompts sometimes test whether you know this is a reconstruction.
Most Hindu temples face east (toward sunrise). Angkor Wat faces west — associated with death/the god Vishnu as preserver, or the setting sun. This is an intentional and significant choice.
Dated 1351 = late Yuan dynasty, not Ming. They are the primary benchmark for blue-and-white porcelain dating, not a Ming-dynasty work.
Each arm has a specific meaning — drum = creation, flame = destruction, abhaya mudra = protection, pointing down = release. Do not guess "many arms = power" generically.
The hourglass, cherubs, and trompe-l'oeil frame borrow from European prints — but this is a conscious power move showing Jahangir's superiority over Western kings, not naïve copying.
The garden has 15 stones arranged in 5 groups. From any single viewpoint, only 14 are visible. This ambiguity is the point — the garden models Zen's concept of mu (nothingness/incompleteness).