Nils Martin is a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University and is associated with the CRCAO in Paris. He has worked extensively on the Buddhist art history and epigraphy of Ladakh from the Tibetan imperial period up to the Namgyal dynasty. His PhD thesis, which won the Khyentse Foundation prize for best dissertation, discusses the painted monuments of the Wanla Group (c. 14th century). Martin is currently preparing a study on some of the earliest Buddhist rock-carvings and Tibetan inscriptions in Ladakh and Baltistan (c. 8th-11th centuries). In the context of the Van Manen Project, Martin will conduct research on the material culture collected by Johan Van Manen, housed at the Worldmuseum in Leiden.

More information about Nils Martin

Fields of interest

• Political and religious history of the Ladakh region and its links to Tibet during the Later diffusion of Buddhism (phyi dar)
• Sculptures and murals of the 13th-15th century Buddhist monuments of Ladakh
• Buddhist rock-art sites in Western Tibet and beyond from the Imperial period to the Later diffusion (8th-13th centuries)
• Modes and techniques of mural painting, connoisseurship applied to Tibetan art history
• Archeometric analyses and chronological modelling of murals
• Tibetan epigraphy and the relationship between inscriptions and artworks

Research

As part of the Van Manen Project, I am conducting research on the objects of material culture collected by Johan Van Manen in the Kalimpong area that are housed today at the World Museum in Leiden, including scroll-paintings, maps, letters, printing blocks, and ritual implements, with a view to understanding their ritual and collection contexts.

Grants and awards

2023 Khyentse Foundation Award for Outstanding PhD Dissertation in Buddhist Studies for Europe, awarded every two years to one PhD

2023 Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Early Career Research Fellowship in Buddhist studies awarded by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)

2017 Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Dissertation Fellowship in Buddhist Studies awarded by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)

2015 Mobility grant from the CRCAO

2012 Three-year PhD fellowship from the ÉPHÉ

2010 ‘Paris Jeune Aventure’ grant from the Mairie de Paris

Curriculum Vitae

2022 PhD degree in Tibetan art history at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (ÉPHÉ, Université Paris Sciences & Lettres, France), supervised by Charles Ramble (ÉPHÉ, CRCAO) with Christian Luczanits (SOAS) as co-advisor

2015 Bachelor’s degree in Tibetan at the University of Languages and Civilizations (INALCO, Paris, France)

2012 Master’s degree in Asian studies at the ÉPHÉ

2011 Postgraduate degree in Asian studies at the ÉPHÉ

2010 Bachelor’s degree in Art history at the École du Louvre (Paris, France)

Selected publications

2023 ‘The temple of Wanla’ In Debreczeny, Karl and Elena Pakhoutova (eds), Himalayan Art in 108 Objects, New York: Rubin Museum of Art, p. 204–207.

2023 ‘The Foundation Inscription of the Sumtsek’ In Goepper, Roger and Christian Luczanits (eds), Alchi. Serindia Publications, p. 781–789.

2022 ‘La Vie du Bouddha du lHa tho lha khang d’Alchi : un bricolage narratif ?’ In Jacquesson, François and Vincent Durand-Dastès (eds), Narrativité – Comment les images racontent des histoires, Paris: Presses de l’Inalco, p. 67–135.

2020 ‘The Murals of the Lotsawa Lhakhang in Henasku and of a few Related Monuments: A Glimpse into the Politico-religious Situation of Ladakh in the 14th and 15th centuries’, Etudes Mongoles et Sibériennes, Centrasiatiques et Tibétaines (special issue ed. by Quentin Devers, Gerald Kozicz, and Heinrich Poell: Proceedings of the 18th conference of the International Association of Ladakh Studies, Bedlewo 2017), 24 p.

2018 ‘A Solemn Praise to an 11th Century West-Tibetan Councillor at Kharul, Purik’, Zentralasiatische Studien 46 [2017], p. 189–232.