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- Addenda
Shortly before this survey was to go to press, we learned of some extremely important ancient Chinese paintings from the Dunhuang Buddhist caves, which were in a Canadian collection. These paintings dating to the Tang dynasty (618-907) belong to the collection of the late Dr. James M. Menzies, and have been kindly lent to this exhibition by his son, Mr. Arthur R. Menzies.
At Dunhuang, which is located in northwest China on the major pilgrim route linking China with west Asia, caves were carved in cliff's, and then plastered and covered with Buddhist paint�ings over a thousand year period spanning from the fourth to fourteenth centuries. Today, nearly five hundred caves survive in good condition, and contain about 45,000 square metres of murals, enough, if displayed, to fill a gallery 25 kilometres long.
In the eleventh century, a storage cave was filled with paintings and manuscripts, and then it was sealed up for safekeeping. It was not until the early twentieth century, that it was redis�covered.
In 1907, Sir Aurel Stein arrived at the site and for a small amount of cash he purchased several thousand interesting sutras and paintings which were later divided between the British Museum and the Indian government. In 1908 Professor Paul Pelliot of France, visited the site and brought out many more paintings which are now housed in the Musee Guimet in Paris. Some of the remaining paintings and sutras found their way into the hands of Japanese scholars and private collectors in China. The three examples illustrated here were collected by the late Dr. James M. Menzies, a Canadian Mis�sionary in China.
43. Buddhist Tantric Painting (dated 828 A.D.) ; ink and colour on cloth panel; 84 x 38 cm.
44. Detail of Sutra with painted Buddha figures embellishing text (dated 869 A.D.) ; handscroll; ink and colour on paper; 28.5 x approx. 500 cm.
45. Two Buddhas and three Bodhisattvas; ink and colours on folded parchment; 25.9 x 71 cm; Painted by the monk Fa Hui in 670 A.D.
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