Repository of Ingenuity: Cave 61 and Artistic Appropriation in Tenth-Century Dunhuang

In 947 Cao Yuanzhong, military commissioner of the Hexi region and the de facto ruler of Dunhuang, began the construction of Cave 61 at Mogao in northwestern China. The structure's architecture, location, and pictorial program bear a remarkable degree of similarity to the caves of his predecessors. The apparent repetition of the earlier designs has led past scholars to dismiss Cave 61 and the art of the time as formulaic and sterile. A closer look at Cave 61 reveals that this project was in fact motivated by a new understanding and practice of artistic appropriation in tenth-century Dunhuang.