Art's Agency and Art History

* Explores important concepts and perspectives in the anthropology of art. * Includes nine groundbreaking case studies by an internationally renowned group of art historians and art theorists. * Covers a wide range of periods, including Bronze-Age China, Classical Greece, Rome, and Mayan, as well as the modern Western world.

Book Contents

Series Editor's Preface. Preface. List of Illustrations. Notes on Contributors. 1. Introduction: Art and Agency and Art History: Jeremy Tanner (University College London ) and Robin Osborne (University of Cambridge). 2. Enchantment and Sacrifice in Early Egypt: David Wengrow (University College London). 3. Agency Marked, Agency Ascribed: The Affective Object in Ancient Mesopotamia: Irene J. Winter (Harvard University). 4. Portraits and Agency: A Comparative View: Jeremy Tanner (University College London). 5. The Agency of, and the Agency for, the Wanli Emperor: Jessica Rawson (University of Oxford). 6. The Material Efficacy of the Elizabethan Jeweled Miniature: a Gellian Experiment: Jessen Kelly (University of California at Berkeley). 7. Representational Art in Ancient Peru and the Work of Alfred Gell: Jeffrey Quilter (Peabody Museum, Harvard). 8. Gell's Idols and Roman Cult: Peter Stewart (Courtauld Institute of Art in London). 9. Sex, Agency, and History: the Case of Athenian Painted Pottery: Robin Osborne (University of Cambridge). 10. Abducting the Agency of Art: Whitney Davis (University of California at Berkeley). Index