Abstract
The diverse integration of family references into the visual program of ninth-century Buddhist caves at Mogao, Dunhuang, marks a turning point in the construction of religious space in medieval China. The examination of Mogao Cave 231 demonstrates the intersection of figural, epigraphic, and decorative references to family patronage, including ancestor portraits, commemorative inscriptions, and depictions of domestic furniture, found throughout the caves. These open multiple perspectives onto the function of cave temples as a hybrid space that bridges the representation of image, object, and architecture as well as the relation between ancestral commemoration and Buddhist devotion.
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