A Technical Study of Terracruda Sculpture Fragments from Khara-khoto
Abstract
Khara-khoto was a thriving Buddhist center of the Tangut-ruled Great Xia empire (1038-1227 CE), producing art that reflected both Himalayan and Chinese traditions. In 1923-24, art historian Langdon Warner removed 250 sculptural fragments, now in the collection of the Harvard Art Museums. Eighteen representative objects were studied to understand their materials and fabrication techniques. Findings included the consistent use of layered clay construction, different internal support systems, modeling and molding, and a consistent palette of traditional mineral and synthetic pigments. Many fragments contained ritual deposits made of various materials.
open access | peer reviewed
Submitted: Aug. 11, 2026 | Published Forthcoming | Language: en
Keywords Edzina • Langdon Warner • Khara-khoto • Terracruda • Tangut • Ritual deposits • Polychromy • Micro-CT • Clay
Copyright © 2026 Kaela Nurmi, Angela Chang, Katherine Eremin, Georgina Rayner, Isabel McWilliams. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/979-12-5742-112-0/005