The Dunhuang Academy and Oxford University jointly held the Workshop of Material and Cultural Exchange Along the Silk Road on April 20, with over 90 experts in attendance. Six scholars gave presentations on classical art, Dunhuang studies and Central Asian religious art.

Peter Stewart, director of Oxford University's Classical Art Research Center, identified a Hermes tapestry fragment from Loulan as a Roman luxury tapestry from the 1st to the 2nd century, confirming ancient art circulation.

Neil Schmid, distinguished visiting researcher at the Dunhuang Academy, examined a camel-headed deity in Mogao Cave, tracing its origin to Iran and revealing the fusion of Kushan and Sogdian influences in Khotanese art.

Ulrike Roesler, professor of Tibetan and Himalayan studies at Oxford, analyzed a Tibetan Ramayana manuscript from Dunhuang, highlighting its narrative features and transmission, and offering new perspectives on cross-regional literary dissemination.

Qi Xiaoqing, a researcher from the Dunhuang Academy, used murals at Karatepe to argue that Central Asia in the 5th to 6th centuries played an active, creative role in Buddhist artistic exchange.

Olivia Ramble, Bahari career development researcher at Oxford University, discussed Sasanian trade networks, luxury goods and merchants, portraying Sasanian Iran as a hub for the exchange of commodities, knowledge and ideas.

Yan Wenxi from the Dunhuang Academy analyzed moon palace imagery in Mogao Cave 9, showing its integration of Daoist ascension and Buddhist pure land beliefs, and reflecting the renewal of native elements amid Silk Road cultural fusion.

The workshop highlighted interdisciplinary and cross-civilizational research and represents an important practice in deepening cooperation between the two institutions.