Bodhisattva Guanyin with Attendants (Dunhuang Cave 17 silk painting)
Silk painting of the Bodhisattva Guanyin (Avalokitesvara) with flanking attendants, from Cave 17 (the Library Cave) at the Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang, Gansu, China. Late Tang or Five Dynasties period, c. 9th–10th century CE. Mineral pigments on silk. Now at the British Museum, London (Stein Collection).
Critical Reception History
1907 · Chinese nationalist art historians and cultural heritage advocates
Chinese scholars from the early 20th century onward characterised Stein's acquisition as an act of colonial plunder: Luo Zhenyu (1866–1940), who had first catalogued the Dunhuang manuscripts before Stein's arrival, condemned the removal as theft. The Chinese term 掠奪 (lüèduó, 'plunder/pillage') is standard in Chinese nationalist discourse about the Stein, Pelliot, and Oldenburg collections.