The two gilt bronze Buddhist images introduced here in Pls. IV and V are newly found noteworthy materials for art historical study of early gilt bronze Buddhist images in China. The former (Pl. IV) is an example supposed to be of the so-called Five Barbarian Dynasties. The particularly interesting point concerning this work is that it has a round halo. The heretofore known small gilt bronze images of this type from the Five Barbarian Dynasties which range from five to nine centimeters in height all show the same sort of stylization and all lack the halo but the one in the Tckyo University of Arts. The one in the Tokyo University of Arts (fig. 2) has a halo covering the whole body and is the same type as the two figures recovered from Shihchia-chuang, Hopei Province, in 1955; it is a halo quite different from that of the work with which we are concerned. These two types of halo must represent two different schools of Buddhist bronze sculpture in this peried and they may also show a difference in their provenances. The fact that the halo of the image in question has radiant lines on it suggests some relationship with the halo seen behind the Buddhist figures of the Khotan District of Central Asia. By the way, we have several Gandharan style Buddhist gilt bronze images from the fourth century as forerunners of these small gilt bronze examples. These images, which are much larger than the images of the Five Barbarian Dynasties, all have a round halo, including the oldest work in the Fogg Museum. In this sense, the round halo of the work in question could be understood as reminiscent of the old tradition. And it is clear that the beginning of the prevalence of these Five Barbarian Dynasties type images was seen already in the late fourth century, judging from their stylistic relationship with the example dated A. D. 338 in the De Young Museum, which is the only dated image from the fourth century and which is in the same stylistic current as the one in the Fogg Museum. On the other hand, the very end of these Five Barbarian Dynasties type images is in the early half of the fifth century and the present work is perhaps datable to around A. D. 400. The fact that the above mentioned two types of halo did not last after the Five Barbarian Dynasties must mean that the images themselves were of localized styles. On the other hand, the groupe typified by the example shown in Pl. V, which is a work from Shensi Province datable to about A. D. 460 to 475 in Northern Wei Dynasty, played an important role in giving birth to the Shensi style, which lasted from the fifth century to the sixth century of Northern Wei Dynasty. Rather many of the same kind of small Buddhist images are known and their common features are seen in the forms of halo and pedestal. In the case of this particular work, the fine pleats seen on the drapery of the main image is especially charac teristic. As a Northern Wei Buddhist stone image of the Shensi school with the closest style to this work, the author points out the image of Amitāyus dated 476 which is owned by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (fig. 13). This work suggests the provenance and the date of the gilt bronze image in question.
