Michelle McCoy: “Notes on the Tangut Nun in Mogao Cave 61”

This paper examines the near-life-size "portrait" of a Tangut Buddhist nun in the corridor of Cave 61, Mogao's "Mañjuśrī Hall," which was repainted during the Tangut period with large-scale processions of the astrological Buddha known as Tejaprabha. I address how this case interweaves the histories of Tangut women's participation in Buddhist art production and in divination.