ures make this painting a
thing of unique beauty. Only through the cultivation of centuries could
such spiritual insight be attained.

If the copy from the collection of Tuan Fang recalls the bas-reliefs of
the Han period, the painting in the British Museum is related to the
bas-reliefs of Long-men, which date from the seventh century and of which
M. Chavannes has published photographs. Therefore we may say that the
style of Ku K'ai-chih exemplifies the distinctive features of Chinese
painting at a period extending from the third to the seventh centuries.[7]

[7] A copy of an engraving on stone of the year 1095, representing
"Confucius sitting amidst his disciples" and another representing
"Confucius walking, followed by one of his disciples," dated 1118,
have been published by M. de Chavannes ("Mission archeologique en
Chine," Nos. 869 and 871). The latter is considered as having been
undoubtedly executed after a painting by Ku K'ai-chih.

It should also be noted that toward the end of the fifth or the beginning
of the sixth century, the painter and critic Hsieh Ho formulated the
Six Canons[8] upon which the far-eastern code of Aesthetics is founded.
These Canons introduce philosophical conceptions and technical knowledge
which also presuppose long cultivation, for it is only after rules have
been brought to reality in a work of art that they are formulated into a
code. Therefore when Buddhism appeared in China it found there a native
art whose value was proved beyond question by a long succession of
masterpieces. After having exhausted every manifestation of strength and
vigor, this art had arrived at expressions of extreme refinement and
profound and appealing charm, closely verging on the disquieting dreams of
decadence.

[8] Interpretations of the Six Canons by five authorities are
accessible in a very convenient form for comparison in Mr. Laurence
Binyon's "Flight of the Dragon," p. 12.--TRANSLATOR.

[Illustration: PLATE VII. GEESE
Sung Period. British Museum, London.]

III. THE INTERVENTION OF BUDDHISM

Chinese books state that between the fourth and the eighth centuries "the
art of painting _man and things_ underwent a vital change." By this they
alluded to the intervention of Buddhist art, which made its appearance in
China toward the fifth century in the form of the Graeco-Indian art of
Gandhara, already modified by its transit across Eastern Turkestan. This
by no means in