Abstract
This article discusses Iranian and Hellenistic architectural elements as they can be found in the art of early Chinese cave temples, using several concrete examples from the Yungang caves cut between 460 and 520 AD during the reign of the Northern Wei dynasty. While some foreign elements were new imports from Central Asia through trade or as diplomatic gifts, through contacts with nomadic peoples, and through the spread of Buddhism and its art, especially Gandhāran art of the Kuṣāṇa period influenced on the one hand by the Iranian world, and on the other by the Hellenistic and Roman tradition, others were ancient patterns reaching China much earlier and might be from the Near East, although their independent origin and development in China cannot be excluded.
Yungang art, created by a non-Han nomadic tribe, reflects all these influences and thus provides unique evidence of historically significant intercultural contact.