The Grotto Art in Anyue / Anyue shi ku yi shu (Mandarin Chinese and English Edition)

by Liu Changjiu

In Chinese and English. 1997 Sichuan People's Publishing House (Chengdu, China), 10 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches tall brown cloth hardcover in color pictorial dust jacket, housed in a color pictorial card slipcase, blind embossed English title and gilt and red Chinese title to front cover, gilt lettering to spine, brown endpapers, copiously illustrated with mostly color photographs and maps, [2], 179, [3] pp. Very slight rubbing and edgewear to covers and dust jacket, with moderate rubbing and edgewear to slipcase. Otherwise, a near fine copy - clean, bright and unmarked - of this scarce work.

Illustrates and describes the magnificent Buddhist relics found on cliffsides and in the remote grottos of the Anyue region in Sichuan Province, China. The book features sites such as Wofoyuan, known for its colossal 23-meter-long sculpted image of a reclining Buddha. 

This work provides detailed descriptions and illustrations of the Buddhist art and cliff-based sculptures found in the Anyue region of Sichuan Province, China, known as the 'Hometown of Chinese Stone Carvings' for its vast collection of Buddhist cliff-based sculptures and art. Beginning around 521 AD during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the creation of these grottoes and statues flourished through the Tang and Song dynasties and continued into the Ming and Qing. The Anyue carvings are especially significant for their role in Chinese art history, bridging the styles of the earlier Yungang and Longmen Grottoes and the later Dazu Rock Carvings.