In his speech addressed to the Chinese Art Society of America in 1945, the French sinologist and explorer, Paul Pelliot (1878 - 1945), drew the attention of his audience to the art of Sichuan when he said, ‘All of us who have studied the ancient history of China have been struck by the fact that while Szechwan [sic.] was already in Han times part of the Chinese confederation, it had a culture of its own.