The Nirvana images of the Liao-Jin period from the Central Plains and North China have a common age but fall into two distinctive regional types-eastern and western.In terms of artistic expression,the Nirvana images from both regions inherited elements from Tang Dynasty art to different degrees,and generally speaking those images from the eastern region tended to contain more elements of Tang art,while those from the western region drew on elements of eastern art on a basis of Tang art and registered new developments.In pictorial content the Nirvana images of the eastern area showed a connection with Maitreya groupings, and they perpetuated traditional pictorial working methods as well as new images created in this period melding Nirvana images and Buddha triads,reflecting the propagation of Mahayana Buddhism.In the western region,the images of Nirvana,Arhats and the Buddha of the Past, Present and Future were combined.On the one hand this emphasized the protection of the Arhats and th...
