Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica

Since its establishment in 1995, the Images and Artifacts Research Center’s initial tasks have concerned the organizing, publishing, and utilization of non-documentary materials within IHP collections, including wooden and bamboo slips, rubbings of steles, pictorial stones and other images, etc. In addition, the Center collects new images and artifacts, and along with our colleagues, interprets them to explore potential research topics and develop new fields of research. Regarding past achievements and contributions, the Center has comprehensively organized the images and rubbings held by the Fu Ssu-nien Library, as well as establishing related research groups and smaller groups focused on the organization of wooden slips, stele rubbings, and rubbings of Buddhist steles. Recently, the Center has also devoted its efforts to organizing Buddhist stele rubbings from the medieval period and has invited scholars from in and outside the IHP specializing in related fields to hold a series of lectures on art history, visual culture, and material culture, among others, to further promote research and collaboration.