A gourd carving by Ma Jianghong. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The Beijing-based artist, who hails from Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, spends several hours a day reconstructing the beauty of the paintings in the Dunhuang grottoes in Gansu province and the Kezi’er caves in Xinjiang, as well as Buddhist stories depicted in thangka art, on gourds.

Her carved gourds and her paintings are now on show at the Ici Labas gallery in Beijing's 798 art district, through Nov 19.