Bodhisattvas

Ever stumbled upon art that survived centuries of upheaval?

The 10th-century mural fragments, discovered by art dealer C.T. Lu and revealed in 1949, are a testament to resilience. These exquisite pieces, now in the Nelson-Atkins Museum, showcase the "Wu style" from the Tang Dynasty, with Bodhisattvas elegantly burning incense. Despite the near-destruction of Buddhist art in the 955 AD persecutions, these fragments offer a glimpse into the rich, dramatic mural tradition that continued to thrive into the 13th and 14th centuries. They bridge the golden age of Tang Dynasty murals with future artistic peaks.

Five Dynasties Period (907-960) Mural painting in Temple Cisheng, Wenxian county, Henan Province. Collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, USA.

This piece is compiled from the Chinese edition of Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting by Foreign Languages Press and Yale University Press, translated by Chen Ying.