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The makara is one of the many images of foreign origin which entered the Chinese artistic vocabulary through cultural exchanges over the centuries. Its persistence through time-attested as it is on different classes of artifacts from the sixth to the eighteenth century-its adaptation to different media, and the iconographical changes it underwent in China make it an interesting case study. In the literature in Western languages, however, the motif has rarely been the subject of specific studies, though a number of scholars have pointed out its occurrence in discussing particular artifacts.-->