This fourteenth-century Chinese hanging scroll depicts attendants who perform music and dance for a Buddhist guardian king. The Central Asian characters of the pipa player and dancer indicate that the artist drew upon earlier, non-Chinese traditions of Buddhist art.
Buddhist Guardian King and Attendants (detail). China, Ming dynasty, 14th-16th century, with spurious earlier seals. Hanging scroll mounted as panel; ink and color on silk. Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1914.14