The town of Karakhoto, situated on the lower reaches of the Edzen-göl in Gansu province in the north-western corner of China, was rediscovered by P. K. Kozlov in 1908. The first recorded reference to the town dates back to the twelfth century, at a time when the Tangut people, who had come together in the year 982 in the Hsi-hsia state, were living on the Edzen-göl (see Volume IV, Part One, Chapter 9). In the year 1226 they were subjugated by the Mongol forces under Chinggis Khan. The excavations at Karakhoto have filled in gaps in the history of Central Asia, its culture, language, literature and art. Among Kozlov’s discoveries there were woodblocks and engravings. Whereas ninth- and tenth-century engravings were found at Dunhuang (in the Lop desert, where cave walls were decorated with Buddhist frescoes, statues and altars), those at Karakhoto date from the eleventh to the thirteenth century. The murals were religious in content and demonstrated the influence of neighbouring countries on the art of the period in Central Asia. Two sets of influences may be identified on the basis of the composition, Tibetan and Chinese. The Chinese influence on Gansu lasted from the second century B.C. to the tenth century A.D., whereas the eleventh to the fourteenth century was a period of Tibetan cultural influence.

The religious images found at Karakhoto that were executed according to Chinese traditions included representations of the Amitabha Buddha, the cult of the dead and planetary deities, including representations of natural phenomena and the seasons. Characteristic features of images exhibiting a Chinese influence are clothes draped over the entire body, the colour yellow and a Taoist motif. Finds there dating from the eleventh to the fourteenth century include images in the Tibetan style such as the ‘Buddha of the diamond throne’. Owing to the conservatism of Tibet, the technique and images of medieval icon-painting were preserved almost to the present day.