Ancient Buddhism at the Hamburg Kunsthalle

The museum’s collection includes several sculptures dating to the 1st millennium CE, which are part of the permanent exhibition.

A particularly interesting Buddha head, dated to the 6th century, during the Northern Dynasties period. The head was detached from a sculpture from a cave temple in the 1920s, most likely at Longmen, from which Buddhist sculptures were being extensively removed at the time.

A wonderful gilt-bronze figure of Avalokiteśvara, dating to the 7th–early 8th century (Tang dynasty).

A truly unique 12th-century Buddha head from the Tangut kingdom.

Another figure of Avalokiteśvara–Guanyin, dating to the 10th–12th centuries. It is officially attributed to the Liao period, but it bears a striking resemblance to Guanyin figures depicted in Tangut paintings in the Hermitage collection.

And finally, three 4th-century heads from Gandhara.