Tang dynasty (618-907)

Capital: Chang'an 长安 (modern-day Xi'an, Shaanxi Province)

Organizing questions:

•  How are Buddhist figures represented during the Tang dynasty? What were the changes from early Northern Wei copies of Indian figures and later Northern Wei linear depictions?

•  What did it mean to "display" Buddhist beliefs?

Concept: display

Dunhuang, Gansu Province.

Buddha ensemble, cave 328.   Mogao Chapels. Late 7th -early 8th century.   H: roughly 6-7' (fig. 6-20)

Ten Kings of Hell (two details). Late 9th-early 10th century.   Handscroll, ink, and pigment on paper; H:   11”. Removed from Dunhuang by Aurel Stein in the early twentieth century; now a part of the collection of the British Museum (fig. 6-25)

Longmen. Luoyang, Henan Province.

Emperor Gaozong 高宗 (628-683)

Empress Wu Zetian 武则天 (625-705)

Great Buddha (Mahavairocana).   Longmen. Luoyang, Henan. 675 CE.   Limestone, H:   55'9” (fig. 6-17)

Bodhisattva and Ananda. Longmen. Luoyang, Henan.   675 CE.   Limestone, H:   35' and 43'5” (fig. 6-18)

Guardians of the North Wall.   Longmen.   Luoyang, Henan.   675 CE.   Limestone, H:   34'6” and 32' (fig. 6-19)