[32] Grünwedel published the result of his explorations in 1912 in Altbuddhistische Kultstätten in Chinesisch Turkistan, Bericht über archäologische Arbeiten von 1906 bis 1907 bei Kuča, Qarašahr und in der Oase Turfan.

[34][35][36] Albert von Le Coq came back to Kizil and surrounding areas in 1913–1914, heading the Fourth German Expedition, removing many paintings, including those Grünwedel had left in place, but generally taking much fewer records than his predecessor.

[38] Various attempts at radio-carbon analysis were made over the years, with various degrees of success, but with the main effect of pushing back the dates of the first caves to circa 300 BCE, and challenging the German classification according to styles and colors schemes.

[40] Many of the results remain inconclusive, sometimes even contradictory, and the historical period in question is rather too short in relation to the uncertainty margin of Carbon 14 datation, to provide a meaningful segmentation of the caves.

Although the site has been both damaged and looted, around 5000 square metres of wall paintings remain,[46] These murals mostly depict Jataka stories, avadanas, and legends of the Buddha, and are an artistic representation in the tradition of the Hinayana school of the Sarvastivadas.

The Kingdom of Kucha, the most populous oasis in the Tarim Basin, occupied a strategic position on the Northern Silk Road, which brought it prosperity, and made it a wealthy center of trade and culture.

[61] Kucha was part of the Silk Road economy, and was in contact with the rest of Central Asia, including Sogdiana and Bactria, and thus also with the cultures of India, Iran, and coastal areas of China.

[63] Since the 2nd century CE, under the auspices of the Han dynasty and the Kushan Empire, numerous great Buddhist missionaries passed through the Tarim Basin on their way to China, such as the Parthian An Shigao, the Yuezhis Lokaksema and Zhi Qian, or the Indian Chu Sho-fu (竺朔佛).

[68] Towards the end of the period, the influence of the art of Gandhara is considered as a consequence of the political unification of the area between Bactria and Kucha under the Hephthalites, which lasted from 480 to 560 CE, or a few decades later.

This contrasts with the style of the following stage, as seen in the panels in the cella of the Cave of the Statues, such as the "Cowherd Nanda", which is much bolder, using intense colors (but still browns, greens and oranges only), thicker lines and simpler patterns.

[73] In the middle of the back wall of the main cella stands a large painting (3.42 m wide and 2.16 m high), with an unidentified scene of a King with attendants, possibly "The skill and music in the heavenly palace" (天宫伎乐).

[73] The sides of the ceiling are composed of diamond-shaped mountains, around which are naturalistic motifs of humans, animals, lakes and trees, a possibly Near-Eastern design which was generally adopted in later caves at Kizil.

[29] Small figures of kneeling devotees in tunics, about 40 centimeters tall, some armed with a dagger, appear next to the left and right corners of the back-wall mural: probably noble and wealthy Kuchean donors of the 4th century CE.

[70][108] This style is thought to be derived from the confluence of Hellenistic, Iranian and Indian influences under the Kushans, and its main center of creation was at Bamiyan, which became "a kind of parent monastery for the settlement of monks in Central Asia".

[122] 2) In the opposite location, on the left wall, Grünwedel described a sermon scene in which the Buddha "only had his feet remaining", corresponding to the panel photographed by Charles Nouette in-situ in 1907.

[122] One of the statues is a man in a particular type of armour with sectioned areas, which used to stand as a protector (possibly a Vajrapani) to the left side of the colossal Buddha of the main cella.

[70][128][129] 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.

[51][115] The influence of the art of Gandhara in some of the paintings at the Kizil Caves, dated to circa 500 CE, is considered as a consequence of the political unification of the area between Bactria and Kucha under the Hephthalites.

[48] The Hephthalites lost political power circa 550 CE after being defeated by the Sasanids and the Western Turks, but they remained influential for a long time, having fragmented into semi-independent Principalities.

[48][67] This style, exemplified by the Cave of the Musicians, using vivid colors and Ligne claire sharp lines to delineate body shapes, seems to be inspired by the Western art of the 4th century CE, and is very different from the style of the Kizil caves of the earlier period, which on the contrary is very elegant and "painterly" with nuanced colors and sophisticated shading of the bodies to express sculptural volume, and which probably points to different artistical roots.

[163] According to Historian of Art Benjamin Rowland, the portraits in Kizil show "that the Tocharians were European rather than Mongol in appearance, with light complexions, blue eyes, and blond or reddish hair, and the costumes of the knights and their ladies have haunting suggestions of the chivalric age of the West".

[190] To add to the confusion, von Le Coq wrote in 1924 that the paintings of the ceiling actually came from barrel-vaulted Cave 184, and he claimed that Grünwedel, who accomplished the removal of the murals in 1906–1907, wrongly described the vault as being "tent-like".

[213] Xuanzang described in many details the characteristics of Kucha (屈支国 qūzhīguó, in "大唐西域记" "Tang Dynasty Account of the Western Regions"), and probably visited Kizil:[214][215] 1) "The style of writing is Indian, with some differences" 2) "They clothe themselves with ornamental garments of silk and embroidery.

They cut their hair and wear a flowing covering (over their heads)" 3) "The king is of Kuchean ("屈支" qūzhī) race"[216] 4) "There are about one hundred convents (saṅghārāmas) in this country, with five thousand and more disciples.

[224] The paintings were in great part brought to Europe by the fourth Royal prussian expedition to Central Asia of 1913–1914 led by Albert von Le Coq.

[232] Ashina She'er, the East Turkic general leading the Tang dynasty expeditionary corps, ordered the execution of eleven thousand Kuchean inhabitants by decapitation.

[243] According to the Tibetan text, the paintings in some of the caves were commissioned by a Tokharian (Thogar) king called "Mendre" (probably Māndhātṛ) with the advice of Anandavarman, a high-ranking monk.

The king of Thogar, called Mendre, or "the Persian" (Po-lo-si), or Anandavarma, had images painted in these caves for the followers of Buddha, by the artist and painter Mitradatta, also by Naravahanadatta, who came from a place of worship (Kultort) of the Niganthas, finally by Priyaratna who came from Syria also with their apprentices (Werkschüler).

The earliest of the extant Dunhuang caves (dating from the beginning of the fifth century) show distinctly "Central Asian" features in their painting, stylistically similar to what we find at Kizil.

[255] Most of the dismantled panels were sent to the Museum für Indische Kunst, Berlin, Germany, but many were destroyed in World War II, with only photographs or drawings remaining in the best cases.