The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE recommends an impressive impersonation of Bob Dylan
The itinerant treasures of the East
BEN CHACKO finds many parallels with present-day peaceful Chinese influence, as well as evidence of exploitation, in a historical exhibition
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Here, Vermiglio, William Tell and Wolf Man
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RINA ARYA confronts the brutal operation of Francis Bacon’s approach to portraiture
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ANDY MIAH advocates the use of AI to assist people by expanding access to global literature and culture
EWAN KOTZ relishes a veteran Glasgow band that have lost none of their verve for live performance
Silk Roads
British Museum, London
SILK ROADS is not quite what it seems.
The publicity evokes the classic image of the Silk Road, as a silhouetted camel caravan ascends a dune somewhere in central Asia.
And Silk Roads does showcase the splendour of China in its chosen period, the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD). It bristles with treasures, from pottery camels to spectacular silk wall hangings depicting Buddhist devotional scenes from the monastic cave complex at Dunhuang; steles illustrate the Tang empire’s tolerance for the Christian and Zoroastrian faiths in its bustling, multicultural capital Chang’an; the hoard of a ship sunk off the Indonesian coast over 1,000 years ago demonstrates China’s early mastery of mass production, packed with 60,000 items for sale, much of it mass-produced ceramics from huge, state-owned factories.
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