DYNASTIES AND IDENTITIES TIBETO-CHINESE BUDDHIST ART OF THE 13TH TO 15TH CENTURIES INTRODUCTION As the title suggests, one focus of this exhibition is to highlight how dynastic identity is reflected in the appearance of the Buddhist artworks it produced. After generations of relative obscurity, the period of Mongol dominance over China and the Yuan period (1271-1368) can be understood as one of the most fascinating and productive phases in the history of Chinese Buddhist sculpture. The ascension of Khubilai Khan (1215-94) to the Chinese imperial throne in 1271 marks a historical, political, and social turning point for large parts of Asia. It was also an event with a tremendous religious impact. After Khubilai had become the first emperor of the Yuan period and had adopted the Sakya School of Buddhism, he declared Vajrayana (“Diamond Vehicle”, Skt. for Esoteric Buddhism) to be the state religion. As a result a new style of Buddhist devotional images emerged which were made by artists from Central Asia, Nepal and Tibet, who collaborated with their Chinese counterparts in the imperial workshops in the newly established capital Dadu (modern Beijing). Although it is very likely that the promotion of the new and foreign faith in China required the production of large numbers of Buddhist images in all sizes and in a variety of media, the corpus of such icons in the early “Tibeto-Chinese” style of the 13th and 14th centuries is surprisingly small. Recent research suggests that these sculptures play a crucial role in the formation of later styles of Chinese Buddhist art and are the antecedents of the well-documented metal images with imperial marks and other related sculpture made in the early Ming period in the same imperial workshops commencing in the early 15th century. The neglected and misunderstood art historical development of the Tibeto-Chinese Buddhist metal icons of the 13th to the early 15th century has been the focus of a research project that now enters its second decade. In two previous publications and exhibitions, “Art and Faith at the Crossroads” (2013), and “Before Yongle” (2015), new insights were brought to the important role that the adoption of Vajrayana Buddhism under the Mongol rule played in the formation of a Yuan stylistic idiom. Although there has been some progress, it is still an area of Chinese art history, which remains understudied. “Dynasties and Identities” is an extension of my previous research. It is one more step to both contribute to the understanding of this area art historically, and also inspire scientific discussions with the presentation of a further selection of rare sculptures and ritual implements from this period.