Grace, however, is not the point. These figures are abandoning themselves to the moment. A mother breast-feeding on the face of another brick reveals another way to revel in the moment. Every part of the scene is charged with tenderness. A brick depicting salt production is a marvel.
Distance comes in layers, with mountainous curves winding their way through space.
While birds, deer and monkeys play, humans with bent backs carry sacks in an endless procession. Nothing's here to suggest these people planned to stand around the throne of the king of heaven, singing hymns. Happy goofs, grotesques with lolling tongues, laughing women and dancing, big-bellied men dominate the entourage. Ancient Sichuans believed that the universe could hum.