Reconstructing the Archaeological Context of Free-Standing Buddhist Images: Considerations of the Wanfosi Hoard in Chengdu (Sichuan)

Unlike a modern archaeological excavation of a Buddhist hoard, this article focuses on a collection of free-standing Buddhist images retrieved from at least four unofficial and intermittent excavations between 1882 and the 1950s. The excavation site in question is associated with the former site of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Religions
Main Author: Liu, Zelan (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: MDPI 2023
In: Religions
Further subjects:B medieval Buddhist art
B Buddhist hoard
B Southern and Northern Dynasties
B Wanfosi of Chengdu
B free-standing images
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Description
Summary:Unlike a modern archaeological excavation of a Buddhist hoard, this article focuses on a collection of free-standing Buddhist images retrieved from at least four unofficial and intermittent excavations between 1882 and the 1950s. The excavation site in question is associated with the former site of Wanfosi, a historical monastery that has been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times from the early Tang to late Qing. By examining various sources, including antiquarian scholarships, local gazetteers, pre-modern maps, and important Buddhist images found within the hoard, I aim to provide essential information that pertains to modern archaeology. This article seeks to address issues such as the accurate identification of the excavation location, the provenance of all materials from a single Buddhist hoard, the historical lineage of the monastery from which insights are gathered into the image cache, and the noteworthy observation that the preservation of the pre-Tang images occurred long before the final burial.
ISSN:2077-1444
Contains:Enthalten in: Religions
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.3390/rel14060759