Based on a comprehensive investigation of the sutra illustrations in the Tang dynasty wall paintings at Dunhuang, this paper studies and explains the developments in expressive technique these paintings show. These illustrations can be divided into four categories of composition: 1) long scrolls with multiple scenes; 2) single pictures; 3) symmetrical compositions; and 4) symmetrical compositions focused around a central preaching scene. The fourth among these became the most popular in the Tang dynasty. This type took shape during the Sui dynasty and originated from spatial painting techniques as a result of the development of landscape and building pictures from the Six Dynasties, which combined with concurrent developments in sutra illustration to advance the spatial depictions of large-scale sutra illustrations for ages to come.
