This book is as interesting and accessible to the general reader as it is to the scholar. It forms part of the Handbook of Korean Art series and examines in detail the very best of Korean gilt, bronze, iron, stone and wooden Buddhist sculptures. It covers 13 centuries, chronicling the arrival of Buddhism in Korea from India via China in the late 4th century AD and, during the Three Kingdoms period (100 BC-668 AD), its ascendancy as the state religion and its impact on the royal family. Youngsook Pak and Roderick Whitfield bring the 324 full-colour images to life through an engaging account of the delicate variations and trends in facial expression and modelling.

Youngsook Pak and Roderick Whitfield both teach in the Department of Art and Archaeology in the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Dr Pak is the author of many articles and books on Korean art, and acts as academic advisor to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. After working at the British Museum, Professor Whitfield was appointed Percival David Professor of Chinese and East Asian Art, University of London. He is the author of several books on Chinese painting and Chinese Buddhist art, and co-curated the exhibition Treasures from Korea at the British Museum in 1984.