The Missing Buddhas: The mystery of the Chinese Buddhist statues that stunned the Western art world

By Tony Miller

In the early 1900s, as chaos reigned in China, life-size glazed terracotta Buddhist monks started appearing on the antiques market and caused a sensation in the West, being both exquisite and completely unlike anything else ever seen in Chinese art. Museums and collectors around the world competed for them, but who made them and when? And where had they been hidden before they suddenly emerged into the light? The Missing Buddhas tells the story of the statues and unravels the question of their origins. For the past century, scholars, curators and connoisseurs have been mesmerized by a myth created by a German dealer that the monks were hidden in inaccessible caves southwest of Beijing to save them from barbarian invaders. But Tony Miller takes a scalpel to this tall tale and both debunks it and discovers the true history of the statues. In doing so, he opens a window on a fascinating period in Chinese history and introduces an extraordinary cast of characters as he leads the reader clue by clue to the real origins of these beautiful enigmas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
• Release date: Jul 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9789888769001

Tony Miller

Tony Miller, PhD, adjunct Professor, BSc, MBA, FCIPD, FinstAM, MRSH, MBPS, MAPS FILM. He has spent most of his career in the field of Business improvement, reshaping organizations and driving organizational change. Currently most of this involves the move to New Leadership and the incorporation of A.I. He has worked in 36 countries in the last 10 years and America where he worked for two years working for top financial corporations. He is considered as “leading edge” in his field, reflected by his prestigious clients all of which are household names. He is the author of 33 books, published by Business Expert Press, Financial Times, and Pearson’s Education. An active conference speaker and writer on Productivity and business efficiency matters, he has delivered many keynote speeches at International Business conferences.