Photo: Profile of Buddha

A profile of the 240 cm statue of a Buddha in the courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi during the China: at the Court of the Emperors exhibition in Florence, Italy. This statue is linked to Empress Wu Zetian, the only female sovereign to rule in Chinese history.

The exhibition, shown for the first time in Europe, contains over 200 masterpieces from the Han to the Tang dynasties (25 - 907). The Tang dynasty is considered the Golden Age of Chinese history and is comparable to the Florentine Renaissance. The Chinese masterpieces are on exhibition from March 7 to June 8, 2008.