Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China's Silk Road

A richly illustrated book about the Mogao grottoes in China - the catalogue for the 2016 exhibition about the Cave Temples of Dunhuang at the Getty Center.

The Mogao grottoes in China, situated near the town of Dunhuang on the fabled Silk Road, constitute one of the world’s most significant sites of Buddhist art. The hundreds of caves carved into rock cliffs at the edge of the Gobi desert preserve one thousand years of exquisite art. Founded by Buddhist monks as an isolated monastery in the late fourth century, Mogao evolved into an artistic and spiritual mecca. Among its treasures are 45,000 square miles of stunning wall paintings, more than 2,000 statues, and some 50,000 medieval silk paintings and illustrated manuscripts.

This handsome catalogue accompanies an exhibition of the same name at the Getty Center organised by the Getty Conservation Institute, Getty Research Institute and Dunhuang Foundation. The exhibition presents for the first time a collection of objects from the so-called Library cave including illustrated sutras, prayer books as well as three full-scale hand painted replica caves. The book includes essays by leading scholars as well as an illustrated portfolio on the replica caves and comprehensive entries on all the objects in the exhibition.

Details

• Author: Neville Agnew, Principal Project Specialist at the Getty Conservation Institute; Marcia Reed, Chief Curator at the Getty Research Center
• Hardcover: 302 pages | 190 colour and 25 black and white illustrations
• Date published: June 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN: 978-1606064894
• Product Dimensions: 25 x 15 x 1.5 cm