Mani's pictures : : the didactic images of the Manichaeans from Sasanian Mesopotamia to Uygur Central Asia and Tang-Ming China / / by Zsuzsanna Gulácsi.

• Superior document: Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies, Volume 90
• VerfasserIn: Gulácsi, Zsuzsanna,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, Netherlands ;, Boston, [Massachusetts] : : Brill,, 2015.; ©2015
• Year of Publication: 2015
• Language: English
• Series: Nag Hammadi and Manichaean studies ; Volume 90.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (555 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

The founder of Manichaeism, Mani (216-274/277 CE), not only wrote down his teachings to prevent their adulteration, but also created a set of paintings—the Book of Pictures —to be used in the context of oral instruction. That pictorial handscroll and its later editions became canonical art for Mani's followers for a millennium afterwards. This richly illustrated study systematically explores the artistic culture of religious instruction of the Manichaeans based on textual and artistic evidence. It discusses the doctrinal themes (soteriology, prophetology, theology, and cosmology) depicted in Mani’s canonical pictures. Moreover, it identifies 10th-century fragments of canonical picture books, as well as select didactic images adapted to other, non-canonical art objects (murals, hanging scrolls, mortuary banners, and illuminated liturgical manuscripts) in Uygur Central Asia and Tang-Ming China.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- 1 Primary and Secondary Records in Coptic, Syriac, Greek, and Arabic Texts (3rd–10th Centuries) -- 2 Primary Records in Parthian and Middle Persian Texts (3rd–9th Centuries) -- 3 Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Records in Uygur and Chinese Texts (8th–13th Centuries) -- 4 Tertiary Records in Post-Manichaean Arabic, Persian, and Chagatai Texts (11th–17th Centuries) -- 5 Format and Preservation -- 6 Subject Repertoire and Iconography -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index.