of the painter in tunic and boots. Above them, the top of each corridor formed a high vault, equipped with a lunette on the southern side, and decorated over its length with rows of devatas behind a balustrade, standing around a Buddha Maitreya, and on top of them landscapes with rhombus losange designs with monks, animals, trees and ponds, of the type seen in vault of the Cave of the Hippocampi (Cave 118). The back corridor, also visible today, is quite unusual, as its vault is trabeated, formed of three flat longitudinal surfaces, on which figures of devatas are aligned like a deck of cards. On the bench along the back wall, stood a colossal reclining Buddha image in a scene of the Parinirvana, with elegant flying devatas hovering over the Buddha. Remains of female statues seated on the back bench were visible, with, at their, feet the bust of a man-elephant. The style of the paintings in this cave, especially in the side and back corridors is very elegant and "painterly", with sophisticated shading of the bodies to express sculptural volume. It is quite similar to the style of the Cave of the Hippocampi (Cave 118), and may belong to the same school. This refined style contrasts with the style of panels in the cella, the "Cowherd Nanda", which is much bolder, using intense colors (browns, greens and oranges), thicker lines and simpler patterns. This divergence suggests that the "Cave of the Statues" may be transitional between these two early styles. Later caves such as the Cave of the Musicians point to an even more different style, using vivid colors and Ligne claire sharp lines to delineate body shapes together with the abundant use of intense blue pigments, with different roots inspired by the Western art of the 4th century CE. "Cave of the Painters" (Cave 207, dated 478–536 CE) The "Cave of the Painters" (Malerhöhle, 画家窟, Cave 207) is one of the earliest caves of Kizil, and one of the most beautiful. The cave contained a statue of the Buddha against the rear wall of the cella, and a barrel-vaulted ambulatory surrounded it. The main cellar contained nine murals of the preaching Buddha on each side wall. The name of the cave comes from the numerous self-portraits of painters standing at the side of the murals, holding paint cupellas and brushes. Several of the painters have a label,