Guanyin from the Gandavyuhaof the Huayan jing—
continues as a major icon in the Yuan and early Ming
dynasties, which produced especially powerful exam-
ples with robes full of movement. Other trends
evolved in sculpture, especially those with a Nepalese-
Tibetan cast, such as the styles brought to China by
Anige, the Nepalese artist introduced to Kublai Khan
by Phags pha, the influential Sa skya hierarch at the
Yuan court. The impact of Tibetan Buddhist art on
China was strong during the Yuan (Mongol ruled) pe-
riod and can be seen in the sculptures of the Feilaifeng
in Hangzhou, in the magnificent cycle of esoteric
paintings of S ́akya lineage in cave 465 at Dunhuang,
and at the Buddhist sanctuary at Wutaishan, where the
enormous Indo-Tibetan style pagoda at the Tayuansi
dominates the valley.
The Ming dynasty produced some impressive
sculptures, such as the colossal one thousand-armed
Guanyin, and the one thousand-armed Wenshu and
Puxian bodhisattvas at the Zhongshansi in Taiyuan
(Shanxi). Many gorgeous paintings and wall paintings,
often of extraordinarily intense color and skillful draw-
ing, such as those at the Fahaisi near Beijing and still
surviving in many temples of Qinghai province, doc-
ument the flourishing painting schools and active tem-
ple building and decorating, especially during the early
Ming. Paintings, sculptures, and superb huge kesiwo-
ven tapestries made during the Yongle era (1403–1425)
were often sent to Tibet as gifts, where they influenced
Tibetan Buddhist art forms during the fifteenth cen-
tury. From this time on, China and Tibet have a par-
ticularly close interrelation in Buddhist art. This is
notable during the reign of the Qing dynasty Qianlong
emperor in the eighteenth century. With the building
of the Yonghegong in Beijing, a center for the DGE LUGS
(GELUK), the order of the DALAILAMAs, the influences
of Tibetan Buddhism were further solidified. Many of
the monasteries around Beijing, the Chinese capital
since the Yuan, have imagery that is strongly Tibetan
in character and iconography, including the many
forms of Buddhist icons common to Tibetan tantric
Buddhist practice, such as those similar to the splen-
did seventeenth-century sculpture of Paramas ́ukha
Cakrasamvara. This final productive phase of Buddhist
art in China was wedded to Tibetan Buddhist tradi-
tions, but there were also occasional masterworks of
Buddhist art produced by the leading painters of the
time and some sculptural styles following older tradi-
tions, especially in the south.
Since the 1960s the Chinese continue to discover,
document, and study major segments of their Bud-
dhist art, and specialized studies by Western scholars
probe new directions, such as the role of patron-
donors; the interaction with popular art and with
Daoist art; the beginnings of specific imagery, such as
Pure Land imagery; the incorporation of data from lo-
cal records; iconographic, religious, and interpretive
issues; sources of the art; regional distinctions; prob-
lems of chronologies and dating; the relationships with
Central Asian art; and the impact of Chinese Buddhist
art on that of surrounding areas, particularly Korea
and Japan. All of these diverse and complex studies are
ongoing and will surely open up new understandings
of the vast and deep subject of Chinese Buddhist art.See also:Arhat Images; Bodhisattva Images; Buddha
Images; Cave Sanctuaries; Chan Art; Huayan Art;
Monastic Architecture; Pure Land ArtBibliography
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