Standing Buddha

On this unique iron plaque the image of the Buddha, inlaid with gold and silver, is shown in three-quarter view. He stands with his feet slightly apart, and each is supported by a lotus blossom. His heavy monastic robe is ornamented with long strands of jewels. The Buddha's right hand is raised in the gesture of religious discussion, and his left is lowered in the gesture of gift granting. Halos surround his head and body.

Toward the end of the Tang dynasty (618-906), as China's control over its frontiers weakened, the Turkic Uighurs and the non-Chinese Tangut Xixia arose along the Silk Road where it crossed the Gansu Corridor in western China. Both of these peoples became brokers for Chinese silk and Central Asian jade, as well as intermediaries in the increasing Buddhist exchanges among the peoples of Tibet, Central Asia, and China.

This image of the Buddha bears a striking resemblance to images in Buddhist art of the Xixia Pure Land sect and to those in the cave paintings of the Uighur community of Bezeklik. The thin, curled moustache of this Buddha is distinctly Central Asian, recalling the early Buddhist art of Gandhara (in what are now parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan).