Empress Wu Zetian

CHINA, Shanxi, Luliang; Wu Zhou period

Empress Wu Zetian (reigned 684–705), the consort of Emperor Gaozong (reigned 649–683) of the Tang dynasty, was born in Wenshui county of Luliang. She rose to become the only female ruler in Chinese history. Empress Wu was active in promoting Buddhism. She involved herself in the translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra, in addition to issuing edicts to construct temples and Buddhist sculptures. Her influence on Buddhist arts during the Tang dynasty was vast, and in particular, she was responsible for the notable flourishing of Buddhist sculptural arts during this time. Empress Wu also contributed a large sum of money to the construction of the Longmen Grotto 1280.
In addition, Empress Wu was skilled in running script calligraphy. The Xuanhe Catalog of Calligraphy records her calligraphy skill as having a masculine touch. According to Famous Paintings in History, the horizontal inscribed boards at both Jianfu Temple and Chongfu Temple in Shanxi were penned by her.