Pure Land

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

NOW CLOSED

Images of Immortals in Chinese Art

Pure Land is the name for the realm of the Buddha and other deities depicted in paintings since the Tang dynasty (AD 618?906). Pure Land Buddhism is particularly associated with the cave temples at Dunhuang in northwest China, near the eastern end of the Silk Route.

During China’s war with Japan in the 1940s, many artists took refuge in Sichuan province, and from there some journeyed to Dunhuang and painted copies of the famous cave temple murals. This display shows rare examples of their work alongside other images of popular deities, particularly Guanyin, in paintings, textiles and porcelain.

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