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CHINESE OBJECTS FROM THE COLLECTION
Chinese Bronzes of the Shang and Zhou Periods
Han Dynasty Bronzes
Early Chinese Ceramics
Sculpture from Tombs
Chinese Buddhist Sculpture
Tang and Liao Dynasty Metalwork
Ceramics of the Song and Jin Periods
Porcelains of the Yuan and Early Ming Periods
Imperial Chinese Ceramics of the 15th Century
Ceramics of the Late Ming Period
Qing Dynasty Porcelain
Landscape Painting in China
Jade and Lacquer in China
Chinese Buddhist Sculpture

The acceptance of the Indian religion of Buddhism in China, which was marked by persecutions as well as by substantive adaptations of doctrines, remains one of the most interesting dialogues in religious history. The style and iconography of Chinese Buddhist art, particularly from the 5th through the 8th centuries, provides a visual record of the many ways in which the beliefs, customs, and aesthetics of India and China were accommodated to each other to form a distinctive, sinicized tradition of Buddhist thought and art -- one that would spread from China to Korea and Japan.

The development of paradise cults and imagery is a hallmark of East Asian Buddhism. The belief that multiple Buddhas and bodhisattvas inhabit different paradises or pure lands (kshetriyas) is common in Buddhism and is discussed in much Buddhist literature. Despite a strong textual tradition, images of these heavenly spheres are relatively rare in India and Southeast Asia. Much of the East Asian iconography of this type can be traced to the images that evolved in China beginning in the 6th century.

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White Tara


Paradise Tympanum


Head of Bodhisattva


Bodhisattvas in Pensive Pose
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