The Archives, IHP, possesses this collection of materials on Buddhist art, primarily centered on medieval China, donated by now Retired Research Fellow Chuan-ying Yen of the IHP, who specializes in Buddhist and Taiwanese art as well as fine arts archaeology. Owing to Yen’s research interests and academic background, she has visited numerous temples, monasteries, and museums throughout China, Japan, and the United States, and has conducted extensive fieldwork projects, namely photographing grotto stone sculptures, temple steles, related inscriptions, and other Buddhist images across China (incl. Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, Gansu, and Sichuan provinces) and regions of Central Asia. The results of her efforts were then compiled into photo cards which have been supplemented with classifying information, such as size, time, and location, based on the region or Buddhist grotto. 
From 2020 to 2021, Chuan-ying Yen donated the Chinese Buddhist art resources, including the above photo cards, photographs, negatives, and slides, she had collected throughout her many years of fieldwork and visits to other collections of cultural artifacts. The Archives is currently in the process of collating these archival materials with the goal of making them readily available to the scholarly community in the near future.
Using these photo cards as a foundation, Chuan-ying Yen has authored several monographs on the art of the Buddhist grottoes of Qibaotai, Tianlongshan, Dazu, Xiaonanhai, and Xiangtangshan, which collectively contribute to our understanding of Buddhist art and beliefs during the medieval period in China. For more on Yen’s research, interested parties are encouraged to see, Chuan-ying Yen, Visualizing the Miraculous World: Reflections on the Buddhist Art in Medieval China (Taipei: Shitou chubanshe, 2016) (in Chinese).