Our critics' pick of the must-see art exhibitions in town this season
Tang dynasty 618-907AD
‘Apsaras’, unknown artist (c700-800)
Under the Tang Dynasty, China became the largest and most powerful empire in the world and attracted a proliferation of artists. Buddhism was a major influence in Chinese culture and an astonishing numbers of Buddhist paintings were produced during this period. Much Buddhist art was destroyed during a period of persecution in the ninth century as the Tang’s strength declined. Most surviving paintings from this period are Buddhist banners and screens, painted on silk and characterised by their bright colours, like the one above (apsaras are Buddhist spirits, something akin to angels). They were discovered intact in 1900 in a sealed cave near remote Dunhuang on the gateway to the Silk Road.
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