Early Buddhist Art of China and Central Asia ─ The Western Ch'in in Kansu in the Sixteen Kingdoms Period and Inter-Relationships With the Buddhist Art of Gandhara

Rhie (art history, Smith College, Mass.), a leading scholar of Chinese Buddhist art and sculpture, continues her survey of early Buddhist art in this volume, the third she's published in the series. Focused on the exceptionally rich and well-preserved caves at Ping-ling ssu and Mai-chi shan, the text traces in great detail the style of the wall paintings and sculpture, with discussion of influence, iconography, inscriptions, religious meaning, and comparative works. Three substantial chapters present the history of the Western Ch'in era (385-421 AD) and the primary sources on Buddhism remaining from that era, a full analysis of the bronze Buddha altar with canopy found in eastern Kansu in 1976, and five-Buddha and multiple Buddha groupings throughout China and Central Asia in the early period. Particularly notable are the plates: there are a group of 20 color and hundreds of b&w plates of excellent quality, many of the sites themselves. Thorough and authoritative, this impressive volume fills a large gap in the scholarship and will be essential to any serious library on Buddhist art and culture. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Marylin M. Rhie, Ph.D. (1970) in Chinese Buddhist art, University of Chicago, is Jessie Wells Post Professor of Art at Smith College. She has published extensively on Buddhist art, including Vols. I (1999) and II (2002) of this series (Brill).