• The Nude Art of the Qiuci Grottoes (English-Chinese Edition): 180+ Han-Tang Murals from the Silk Road Caves
  • The Nude Art of the Qiuci Grottoes (English-Chinese Edition): 180+ Han-Tang Murals from the Silk Road Caves
  • The Nude Art of the Qiuci Grottoes (English-Chinese Edition): 180+ Han-Tang Murals from the Silk Road Caves
  • The Nude Art of the Qiuci Grottoes (English-Chinese Edition): 180+ Han-Tang Murals from the Silk Road Caves
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The Nude Art of the Qiuci Grottoes (English-Chinese Edition): 180+ Han-Tang Murals from the Silk Road Caves

The Nude Art of the Qiuci Grottoes (English-Chinese Edition): 180+ Han-Tang Murals from the Silk Road Caves

From the Kizil, Kumtura, Simsim and Kizilkaga Caves — How Nude and Semi-Nude Figures Were Painted in Buddhist Murals, and What They Reveal About Qiuci’s Artistic Sources and Its Relationship with Buddhism
This is not a general history of Qiuci Buddhism, and it is not a book you read for the text alone. It is a large-format art book—168 pages, hardcover—built around 180 photographs of nude and semi-nude figures painted on the walls of the Qiuci cave temples between the Han and Tang dynasties. The caves are among the most important Buddhist art sites on the Silk Road, and the figures are not decorative: they appear in scenes of the Buddha‘s life, in narratives of conversion and temptation, and in the depiction of donors and musicians. The book opens with essays on how these figures are composed, what makes Qiuci’s style distinct, how the art relates to Buddhist doctrine, and where its visual sources may lie. Then come the plates, organized by cave site: Kizil, Kumtura, Simsim, Kizilkaga, and Mazarboha. The Chinese and English texts run side by side. If you want to study a specific and often overlooked dimension of Silk Road Buddhist art through high-quality photographs and scholarly commentary—rather than read a general survey or a travel guide—this is it.
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Detail

What problem does this book solve?

For decades, a widely repeated claim in Western art history held that ancient Chinese painting contained no tradition of figurative (nude) art in the strict sense. Starting in the 1970s, Prof. Feng Fei discovered numerous semi-nude and fully nude figures in the murals of the Qiuci cave temples. Over decades of systematic photography and research, he assembled visual evidence that directly challenged this assumption.-

What makes this book different?

It is a photographic album, but not only that. 168 pages, hardcover, 16-mo format, featuring over 180 mural photographs from the Han and Tang dynasties, each with bilingual captions. The content covers five areas: the expressive forms of Qiuci cave nude art, classification of nude and semi-nude figures, stylistic and painterly characteristics, the relationship between these images and Buddhist doctrine, and the artistic origins of the tradition.-30

Why does it deserve a place on your shelf?

The Qiuci caves (best represented by the Kizil Grottoes) are among China's earliest large-scale cave temple complexes, dating from roughly the 3rd century CE. Their murals blend artistic influences from ancient Greece, Indian Gandhara, Persia, and the Central Plains.- These nude figures are not isolated aesthetic gestures — they are direct evidence of Silk Road cultural exchange. Feng Fei's photography and research bring these images, scattered across remote caves, into systematic view. The album received a National Outstanding Book Award, and the author is a nationally certified first-class photographer, researcher at the Xinjiang Museum, and executive vice chairman of the Xinjiang Photographers Association.-

Who is this book for?

  • Scholars and students of ancient Chinese art, Buddhist art, and Silk Road culture

  • General readers curious about whether China had a figurative art tradition

  • Art school faculty and students seeking image references for mural study and reproduction

  • Readers interested in Central Asian artistic exchange and Gandharan influence

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