Buddha, after an image at the Mogao Caves, Dunhuang

In the early 1940s, the renowned painter, connoisseur, and art historian Xie Zhiliu devoted more than a year to close research of the Mogao caves in Dunhuang, China’s grandest repository of Buddhist art. During his study, Xie copied several wall paintings to create his own images, including the one shown here. This deity’s finely rendered outline and fully rounded proportions evoke a style that is distinctive to Dunhuang murals datable to the 7th century. However, Xie clearly enhanced this figure with original artistic elements: naturalistic skin tones, carefully graded shading, and decorative scrollwork along the borders of the Buddha’s drapery folds.