An Early Modern Tradition in Perspective:
Nyaungyan Buddhist Narrative Murals of Burma
(c. 1580-1800)

Speaker: Cristophe Munier-Gaillard

Tuesday, March 18th, 18:00

Burmese mural painting is best known from the Pagan period of the 11th-13th centuries, whose corpus of over 300 monuments is the largest in Southeast Asia. This lecture shows that the Nyaungyan mural tradition is not a continuation of this first pictorial tradition, but represents a foundational change, heralding the modern era. Not subject to any major foreign influence, its fundamentals reflect a simplified program and graphism, a new iconography, and a new structuration of the mural space. These developments ultimately led to a new way to teach Buddhist moral precepts through entertaining scenes highlighting Portuguese and Indian gatekeepers.   

Cristophe Munier-Gaillard is an associate member of the Centre de Recherche sur l'Extrême-Orient de Paris-Sorbonne. His research focuses on the narrative technique and styles of early modern Burmese Buddhist murals. He edited Mural Art: Studies on Paintings in Asia (River Books, 2017).  


This hybrid lecture will be held on site and via Zoom.

Registration required in advance from https://forms.gle/HfsDT6gFgTq84SYK7

Zoom Meeting ID: 865 8768 1543

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86587681543

Venue: EFEO Kyoto, 29 Kitashirakawa Betto-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8276

You can find the place on the Google Maps with the words 'EFEO Kyoto'.

Language: English


École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO)
Italian School of East Asian Studies (ISEAS)
Co-hosted by Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University

 kyoto lectures