vement of the line and the display of a transcendent
harmony and elegance of proportion such as are seen in the frescoes of
Eastern Turkestan. Perhaps through contact with China--herself searching
for new expressions--but probably through a combination of the two
influences, Buddhist painting, at the opening of the T'ang dynasty, gives
us heavier types in which compact and powerful figures take on a new
character.

From then on we perceive the nature of the great change to which the early
books refer. Chinese painting had already known the genii and fairies of
Taoism, the Rishi or wizards living in mountain solitudes, the Immortals
dwelling in distant isles beyond the sea. It now knew gods wrapped in the
ecstatic contemplation of Nirvana, with smiling mouth and half-closed
eyes, revealing mystic symbols in a broad and apostolic gesture. It had
more life-like figures, attendants, benign and malignant, terrifying
demons. Before these impassive gods, in a fervor of devotion it bent the
figures of donors, men and women, sometimes veritable portraits. With even
greater breadth it portrayed the disciples of Sakyamuni, those anchorites
and hermits who under the name of Lohan[10] have entered into Chinese
Buddhist legend. Indian priests with harsh, strongly marked features and
wrinkled faces, preachers of a foreign race, disfigured by scourging or
else the calm full visage of the ecstatic in contemplation,--such are the
types that appeared. Chinese painters took up the new subjects and treated
them with a freedom, an ease, and a vitality which at once added an
admirable chapter to the history of art.

[10] Indian _Arhat_; Japanese _Rakan_.--TRANSLATOR.

IV. THE T'ANG PERIOD--SEVENTH TO TENTH CENTURIES

The T'ang dynasty was the really vital period of Chinese Buddhism. Among
the painters who gave it its highest expression Wu Tao-tz[)u] holds first
place. His memory dwells in history as that of one of the greatest masters
in China and legend has still further enhanced the might of his genius. It
is highly probable that his work is entirely destroyed, but by the aid of
copies, incised stones and wood engravings of the twelfth century, an idea
of the painter's conception can be formed. He seems to have been the
creator of a Chinese type of Kwanyin, the Buddhist incarnation of mercy
and charity. Drapery covers the high drawn hair. She is attired in the
harmonious folds of a plain and ample garment and expresses supreme