CHRIST IN THE "LI TAI SHEN 

 HSIEN T'UNG CHIEN." 



A Letter from Dr. H. A. Giles 



Mr Werner finishes of! an interesting paper in the 

 Journal tor 1921, pp. 186—188, with a note on " Christ and 

 Two Nestorian Priests," a picture which I reproduced several 

 years ago in "An Introduction to the History of Chinese 

 Pictorial Art," and again in Adversaria Sinica, Series I, p. 

 27, with further arguments, pp. 215 and 300, to support 

 my views. Mr. Werner declares that he has "no wish to 

 revive the controversy; " and then, consenting like Donna 

 Julia, proceeds to fill more than two closely-printed pages 

 with '" the following reasons," which are about as controver- 

 sial as he could make them. Personally, I am quite pleased 

 to revive the controversy, in the hope that the question may 

 possibly be settled once and for all, as the balance of 

 evidence may determine. 



Mr. Werner says "there is no record showing that 

 Christ was partially bald." What he mistakes for baldness, 

 and also for the ushnisha is the tonsure which was a charac- 

 teristic of Nestorian priests, as well as the beard. This we 

 learn from no lesser authority than the Nestorian Tablet : 

 # IS #1 }S they grow the beard and shave the crown. As to 

 the curly beard which Mr. Werner says " does resemble that 

 shown in portraits of the Buddha," I have dealt with that 

 in Adversaria Sinica, p. 300, and it is tiresome to have to 

 repeat old statements which have not been refuted. So 

 with "essential points of resemblance to Buddhist originals," 

 considering how the Nestorians tried to embody Buddhism 

 in the special form of Christianity which they offered to the 

 Chinese. As to the dissimilarity of other "portraits of 

 Christ," I presume that Mr. Werner refers to western 

 examples, which are quite dissimilar among themselves and 

 have no bearing on the point at issue. The oldest known 

 portrait of Christ, barring the present bone of contention 

 which could hardly profess to be a likeness, is here at 



