Chapter IV (2)

This and the following Plate, together with Plate XXXVII, illustrate a group of paintings well represented among the silk banners of the Collection and of special iconographic and artistic interest. Painted like the rest of the silk banners on both sides of a fine gauze-like fabric, they show scenes taken from the legendary life of Gautama Buddha or closely connected with it. The usual length of the banners (exclusive of the triangular top and other accessories) does not appear to have much exceeded twenty-five inches, and their width, as seen from the specimens which Plate XII reproduces full size, is restricted. As a necessary result of the narrow shape of the banners, we find the succession of scenes always arranged one above the other and in the completely preserved ones limited to four.[21]

This group of paintings is as well defined in style as it is in range of subjects and external arrangement. Everything in the scenes connected with the physical types of the actors, their costumes and movements, as well as the setting, whether architecture or landscape, appears here ‘translated bodily into Chinese’, to use Mr. Binyon’s graphic phrase. The traditional subjects of the historical Buddha’s life-story have in fact, as M. Foucher has with equal pregnancy put it, ‘undergone the same disguising transformation which Christian legend has under the hands of the Italian or Flemish painters’.[22] It contrasts strikingly with this, that the figures of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, in our banners and large paintings alike, show close conformity in physical appearance and dress to the hieratic types derived from the Graeco-Buddhist art of Gandhāra. For possible explanations of the very interesting problem thus raised reference to Mr. Binyon’s ‘Introductory Essay’ will suffice here.

Notwithstanding their frankly Chinese style, the banners with scenes from Gautama Buddha’s Life show considerable diversity of composition and treatment. We note these variations all the more easily because the banners range themselves into small groups, one alone not affording sufficient room for a representation of even the most important incidents of the Life. Two banners of such a group, each with only two scenes preserved out of the four which the original, no doubt, once comprised, are shown in Plate XII on the left and right. Both banners have the same decorated borders along the sides and between the several scenes, and both have cartouches, here fortunately filled with Chinese inscriptions naming the subjects represented.

The banner on the left (Ch. lv. 0016) shows us two of the famous ‘Four Encounters’ which bring before Prince Gautama’s eyes the three evils of earthly life—old age, illness, and death, and the means to escape them by renunciation. We find them all represented already in the fifth-century relievos of Yün-kang, while strangely enough they have not yet been found among the Gandhāra sculptures.[23] Above we see the prince riding out of the green-tiled gateway of the battlemented courtyard wall of his father’s palace. Over it is shown a pavilion with red timber framework and greenish-blue roof. The red-maned well-drawn horse represents the Kaṇṭhaka of the legend. A courtier in flowing robes with a high black cap attends him on foot. Before him under a tree is shown the bent figure of the old man leaning upon a stick and wearing on his head a black hood. Another man, who stands by his side and evidently supports him, has the black lobed and tailed cap to which reference has been made above as the head-dress worn by the donors of our oldest Tun-huang paintings. It is that of all common personages in our Jātaka scenes. The high conical head-dress of the courtier is found also in the above-quoted relievo panels of Yün-kang.[24] Prince Gautama himself in the scenes of both our banners here wears a head-ornament resembling a white lotus.

In the scene below we see the prince riding with bent head from the same palace gateway. Here it is shown on the right, and its interior timber frame clearly displayed. The courtier by his side, attired as above, approaches with compassionate expression the group on the left. Here under a tree is seen sitting upon the ground the sick man, supported by a friend in a red dress, while another in green offers him drink in a bowl. The emaciation of his body and of his arms spread upon his knees is shown with realistic skill.

In the companion banner on the right (Ch. xlix. 006) the lower scene, composed in exactly the same style, represents Prince Gautama as a child discoursing on his anterior lives to civil and military officers, as the accompanying inscription tells us. The future Buddha sits on a verandah of the palace, holding out his arms evidently in the act of reciting his Jātaka tales. In front of him kneels a man, in black cap and orange belted coat, holding a manuscript roll. On the ground below stands a bearded personage wearing the dress of a civilian dignitary; he also carries a roll in his hands, which are covered by the wide sleeves of his robe. Two persons stand behind the prince outside the verandah. One in the dress of an attendant carries in his arms a round receptacle filled with small objects no longer recognizable. The other, wearing a tall round black cap, a brown mantle, and white under-robe, grasps with his right hand what from the gesture seems to be the hilt of a sword, and may hence be taken as representing the military element in the royal entourage.

The seated figure of Buddha seen in the upper panel illustrates what has been said above about the close adherence to the models derived from Gandhāra art in the delineation of divine figures which stand outside Gautama’s life-story before his attainment of Buddhahood. This representation of the Buddha in our banner reflects Indian hieratic tradition in every detail. He is shown seated on a large scarlet lotus, with the left hand raised in the attitude of ‘protection’ (_abhaya-mudrā_).[25] A crimson under-robe, with light blue lining, covers legs and right shoulder, while a brown mantle lined with light green is thrown over the bare left. The finely drawn face, with arched black brows and level eyes, shows no trace of Chinese influence. Throughout the drawing is firm and clear in the smallest details and the workmanship very delicate.

The banner reproduced in the middle (Ch. 0071) has survived only in badly broken fragments, but even thus claims attention for several qualities. Though of the topmost scene little else remains but the figure of the seated Prince Gautama, it can, on the strength of other closely corresponding scenes, be safely recognized as representing the farewell in the forest from his horse Kaṇṭhaka and its groom Chandaka,[26] after the prince’s flight from his father’s palace. Lower down we are shown in an excellently composed scene the pursuit of the mounted messengers sent by his father Śuddhodana to search after him in the forest. The group of five horsemen with heads turned towards each other as if baffled as to the track to follow are plunging behind a forested hill to the left. The drawing of men and horses is very spirited and the movement of both vividly expressed.

In the bottom scene we may recognize with some probability a representation of the First Sermon in the Deer Park of Benares. Śākyamuni, in Buddha robes, with halo and vesica and gilded flesh, is seated on a lotus upon a chased throne. Over him hangs a draped canopy supported by a pair of red-flowering star-leaved trees just as Paradise pictures show them. Of three monks standing behind the throne the shaven heads are visible. In front kneel the audience—three men with high topknots and gay party-coloured jackets and long under-robes. With their faces raised towards the Enlightened One they seem to listen intently to his teaching. Throughout the colouring is ornate and carefully applied in illuminating style.

PLATE XIII

SCENES FROM THE BUDDHA LEGEND

The banner reproduced on the right (Ch. xx. 008) on a scale almost full size belongs to a well-defined series of banners, all of the same style and workmanship, illustrating scenes from the story of Gautama Buddha.[27] The scenes are all simple in design and divided from each other by low hill ranges. Their number in our banner is only three, as shown also by the three cartouches, all left blank.

The top scene shows King Śuddhodana seated on the verandah of his palace and giving instructions to the mounted messenger to be dispatched in search of Prince Gautama after his flight from the palace. The figure, short and squat, of the messenger is characteristic of the whole series; that of the horse, compact and heavy in build, suggests a type like that of the present Mongol pony. In the next scene we see the messenger engaged on his quest, carrying a red pennon and galloping to the left. The rapid movement of the horse, here bay with red spots and white mane and tail, is effectively rendered.

The scene below represents the messenger returning and reporting to the king the futility of his search. Śuddhodana is seen as before seated on the palace verandah while two musicians outside beguile him with flute and pipe. Further down in the foreground are shown an enclosure, containing a lotus tank and a bamboo tree, and outside its entrance a small hexagonal structure with an oblong yellow object within. Higher up kneels a white-coated man playing on clappers. The significance of the objects in the foreground is not clear. The drawing, though rough, shows vigour, and the general effect is bold and in the more active scenes full of character.

On the left of this banner is reproduced, on half-scale, what remains of the left-hand portion of an interesting but unfortunately much-damaged large painting on silk (Ch. 0059). The colour of the original is remarkably strong and the subject unusual. It represented, when complete, the figure of Śākyamuni standing erect in the grotto of the Vulture Peak (_Gṛdhrakūṭa_), famous in the story of the Buddha, and by his side Jātaka scenes of a type not met with elsewhere among our paintings and so far unidentified. Though only the right shoulder and arm of the Buddha figure survive, there can be no doubt about its iconographic character. The rocks, dark blue and brown, which appear piled behind and above, with the vulture perched on the top, would render this quite certain.

The identification is fully confirmed by the pose of the Buddha. The arm hanging stiffly downwards at full length and slightly away from the body, with fingers also stretched straight down, is seen again in the central Buddha of the great embroidery picture of Plate XXXIV and in the figure undoubtedly representing Śākyamuni on Gṛdhrakūṭa, which the painting shown in Plate XIV reproduces among other Indian statues of Buddha. The representation in the embroidery picture is recalled also by the deep yellow colour of the flesh in our painting as well as by the shape and certain details in the canopy. The elongated vesica, cobalt blue in its border, and the light green and vermilion nimbus are both edged with flames and cloud scrolls in vermilion and dark blue. More true to nature than the vulture on the top is the flight of wild geese and ducks shown above.

A disciple with shaven head, probably Śāriputra, stands by the side of Śākyamuni and turns towards him. He shows an unconventional type of features drawn with much vigour. The head is long and high at the back, with well-defined ‘corners’ there and over the forehead. The large nose, bushy eyebrows, and long pointed chin give a strongly marked character to the head. It is set off by a circular halo of brilliant vermilion. The costume, too, is peculiar; it consists of an under-robe of vermilion and light green, black shoes upturned at the toes, and a large mantle of mottled dark green, blue, and red, which covers both shoulders and arms.

The legendary scenes which appear on the side of the painting are preserved in a very fragmentary condition and still await interpretation. But that they are connected with a statue representing Śākyamuni on the Vulture Peak seems clear. In the background of the top scene there appears a statue of a Buddha in the same pose as the central figure, with the right arm stretched down stiffly. To the left, in front of a building (temple?), stands a shaven priest, pointing out the statue with his raised arm to passers-by below. In the foreground is seen a man in brown coat and top boots riding a mule with its legs hidden behind hilly ground. Behind him a white elephant, with a load of yellow objects, but rider or driver no longer visible, proceeds in the same direction to the left. On that side appear the roughly drawn figures of two men with black beards and shocks of black hair.

The next scene below is even more puzzling. In the middle are seen a pair of colossal hands rising from the ground and enclosing a human head in red. To the right four conical objects, suggesting tents and striped horizontally, form a row; a large vermilion pennon is shown above one of them. Behind them a man on a dark grey horse is seen riding rapidly. His right arm is raised as if to strike, and two mounted attendants follow him. The foreground to the left shows on a green slope a row of unexplained leaf-shaped objects, and above this two semi-naked figures incomplete.

Very curious is the bottom scene. The God of Thunder appears above on a cloud within a ring of drums which he beats in violent movement. In the centre, before a background of rocks, is shown a large Buddha statue within a scaffolding of vermilion poles. That the statue represents Śākyamuni on Gṛdhrakūṭa is made certain by the downstretched right arm and also by the characteristic pose of the left hand, which gathers up the drapery in an ‘ear’ at the breast, just as the figure in Plates XIV and XXXIV shows it. On either side of the scaffolding is perched a man, busy with his hands at the statue’s head and steadying himself with one foot at its shoulder. At the back of a building on the left a man seems to give instructions to the workers, while at the foot of the statue there squats a small figure with arms and legs outspread like the Thunder-god’s. The latter’s figure in fury is shown again by a small detached fragment below.

For a conjectural explanation of the scaffolding, which might be connected with some miraculous translation of a sacred statue, reference to _Serindia_ must suffice here.[28] But whatever the legend represented in our side scenes may prove to be, we cannot fail to note the striking contrast between the stiff hieratic image and the life and vigour in the rest of the picture.

PLATE XIV

IMAGES OF BUDDHAS AND BODHISATTVAS

The large but unfortunately poorly preserved silk painting (Ch. xxii. 0023), of which this Plate reproduces remains of the left-side portion, on the scale of one-third, presents exceptional iconographic interest. It shows numerous Buddha and Bodhisattva images arranged in separate compartments and drawn in an Indian style which is unmistakably derived from the Graeco-Buddhist art of Gandhāra. As first recognized by M. Petrucci from the few Chinese inscriptions still legible in the cartouches,[29] the figures were intended to reproduce sculptured images worshipped at various sacred sites of India. Eleven of them appear in the portion of the painting as shown by the Plate, and seven more are traceable partly above this portion or in detached fragments.[30] In the case of six the characteristic poses or attributes enable us at present to identify with certainty the particular divinity which the original images were intended to represent. For others definite clues have yet to be searched for.

The figure in the top corner on the left reproduces an image of Gautama Bodhisattva, seated in the famous scene of Māra’s attack immediately preceding the Illumination. This is shown by the characteristic pose of the hand touching the rocky seat _bhūmisparśa-mudrā_ and by the triple monster head forming a crown over the Bodhisattva’s head and symbolizing the demon army of Māra. It was in that pose that the miraculous image at the sacred site of Bōdh-Gayā, described at length by the great Chinese pilgrim Hsüan-tsang and still traceable in numberless replicas, presented Śākyamuni at the moment of Enlightenment. The identification of our figure with this far-famed image is confirmed by the Chinese inscription placed against it which describes it as a statue in the kingdom of Magadha. In the figure now seen in the top right-hand corner we meet again with a Bodhisattva seated in the _bhūmisparśa-mudrā_. His robe is like that of a Buddha and red. Two white crescents are shown within the nimbus, which, like the vesica, is flame-edged. Here, too, a fortunate chance has preserved the accompanying inscription from effacement. According to M. Petrucci it mentions as the original a silver image preserved in the kingdom of Kapiśa, which corresponds to the region of the present Kābul.[31]

Iconographic indications define four more of the images represented. The figure in the middle of the topmost row shows the statue of a Buddha standing with the right hand raised in the pose of ‘Protection’ and surrounded by an elliptical vesica which is filled with rows of small Buddhas standing in the same pose and visible from the breast upwards. The whole agrees in all details, down to the folds of the drapery, with two colossal stucco relievo statues excavated by me in 1901 on the southern corner walls of the great Rawak Vihāra of Khotan.[32] Of these and similar representations on a much smaller scale in Gandhāra relievos M. Foucher has proved that they are meant to exhibit Śākyamuni in the act of performing the Great Miracle of Śrāvastī.[33] In another standing figure, the one on the right of the middle row, the introduction of a pair of gazelles or deer into the ogee top of the vesica proves that an image representing Śākyamuni in the Deer Park of Benares, the scene of the First Sermon, is intended. The richly adorned standing figure of a Bodhisattva in the bottom row, holding the characteristic emblems of the lotus and flask, is certainly an Avalokiteśvara, and the presence by his side of various small attendant figures may yet help to the exact identification of the image intended.

Special iconographic interest attaches to the standing Buddha figure in the right-hand bottom corner of the Plate. Its hieratic pose of peculiar stiffness, the treatment of the drapery and what remains of the background of speckled rocks, leave no doubt as to the identity of the figure with the image of Śākyamuni on the Vulture Peak, which is represented in striking similarity also by the fine painting of Plate XIII previously discussed and by the embroidery picture of Plate XXXIV. The vulture shown in the former makes it quite certain that the background of all three paintings represents the famous rocky hill near Rājagṛha or Rājgir in Bihār, where ancient tradition localized various episodes of Śākyamuni’s later life. There is no inscription to tell us where the Indian image which all three representations were intended to reproduce was assumed to be. But the absolute identity of the pose, and the extraordinarily close resemblance of all details in the treatment of drapery, hair, dress, &c., prove all three to be replicas from the same model. That this was a sculpture in the Graeco-Buddhist style is obvious at a glance.

The rigid adherence in details to a common original model which is proved in this particular case supports confidence in the general fidelity with which the other figures, too, in our painting may be assumed to reproduce the original images represented. A close parallel is furnished by the miniatures in certain Nepalese manuscripts of the eleventh century which illustrate various sacred images and shrines of Buddhist India. M. Foucher has conclusively proved that their painters, in all that concerns essential points, have always been at pains to reproduce faithfully the stereotyped models furnished by long-continued traditional imagery.[34]

In what form our painter had received the types he thus conventionally reproduced is uncertain. But the clearly preserved Graeco-Buddhist style shows that they were indirectly derived from Gandhāra, and early transmission through Central Asia is obviously most probable. The question may be hazarded whether the votive object aimed at in the painting and its assumed prototype was not that of securing the religious merit which might have attached to an actual pilgrimage to those distant sacred sites. The drawing in mere outlines with little or scarcely any colour, similar to the technique of certain Khotanese mural paintings, and the perished state of whole portions of the silk seem to point to the painting being of early date.

PLATE XV

TWO FORMS OF AVALOKITEŚVARA

The predominant share which the Bodhisattvas claim in popular Buddhist worship as developed under Mahāyāna influences is illustrated by the fact that about one-half of our Ch‘ien-fo-tung paintings are devoted to their representation, whether singly or along with attendant divinities. However large may be in devout speculation the number of different Bodhisattvas, popular imagination had already in the North-Indian home of the Mahāyāna system been concentrated upon a small select group of Bodhisattvas. Among them Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva of Mercy, occupies the foremost place, and the frequency of his representations among our Tun-huang paintings is just as marked as the popularity of his female manifestation, known to the Chinese as Kuan-yin, to the Japanese as Kwannon, the Goddess of Pity, is in modern Buddhist worship throughout the Far East.

The large and fairly well-preserved painting (Ch. xxxviii. 005), reproduced on the scale of one-third in Plate XV, presents two almost life-size figures of Avalokiteśvara standing erect and facing each other. Their outer hands are raised in the _vitarka-mudrā_, while the Bodhisattva on the left carries in the other hand a yellow flower, and the one on the right a flask and a willow sprig. These are well-known attributes of Avalokiteśvara.[35] Which of his many particular forms are intended may be determined from the inscribed cartouche above, of which no translation is as yet available.

The figures, drawn with much care and painted in a wealth of harmonious colours, reflect a certain grandeur of design which breaks through the hieratic conventions of pose and externals. Except for the oblique eyes these conventions are all unmistakably Indian in type and origin. But equally clear is the change, here seen in highly perfected technique, which their treatment has undergone by the eyes and hands of Chinese painters. We notice their distinctive touch quite as much in the grace and dignity of the features as in the mastery of sweeping line with which the rich robes of the Bodhisattvas are treated. The features are finely drawn and delicately shaded with pink; the ears are elongated and show hieratic convention in a particularly striking fashion. The fine drawing of the shapely hands curiously contrasts with the clumsy foreshortening of the feet.

Dress, coiffure, and jewellery are of the elaborate style, often displayed by our Bodhisattva banners;[36] but the ornamentation, though carefully treated in detail, is not overdone. On the front of the tiaras is shown Avalokiteśvara’s Dhyāni-buddha, Amitābha. From lotus buds at their sides descend rainbow-coloured tassels. The garments comprise shawl-like stoles, lined with light green, under-robes of Indian red, and long skirts of orange hue. A white girdle is held round the hips by a jewelled belt; its end hangs down in front of the skirt and is tied below in a butterfly knot. From a heavy gold necklet descend jewelled chains, which are gathered together by a large circular jewel at the waist, and then part again to loop up the skirt about the knees. A jewelled anklet seems to gather the end of the under-robe above the feet, and these in either figure are set upon a pair of open lotuses. On the outer sides of the figures gracefully drawn flowers and leaves are shown as if floating down gently through the air.

PLATE XVI

FOUR FORMS OF AVALOKITEŚVARA

This well-preserved large silk painting (Ch. lv. 0023), reproduced here on a scale of two-fifths, offers special interest.[37] It is the oldest exactly dated painting in the Collection, the dedicatory inscription below indicating the year corresponding to A.D. 864. It also combines in a curious fashion hieratic conventions of Indian origin, such as prevail in the row of four Avalokiteśvara figures ranged stiffly side by side in the upper half, with the more Chinese and more animate treatment of others in the lower half. There the Bodhisattvas Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī are represented in procession advancing towards each other on lotus seats carried by their respective ‘Vāhanas’, the white elephant with six tusks and the lion, and accompanied by their attendants, just as we have already seen them in the more sumptuous compositions of Plates III and IV. Samantabhadra has his hands raised in the _vitarka-mudrā_ and Mañjuśrī in the pose of adoration. Their dress, ornaments, circular haloes, &c., as well as their _cortèges_, here limited to two lesser Bodhisattvas carrying three-tiered umbrellas and a dark-skinned Indian attendant leading the divinity’s mount, all show very close agreement with the types displayed in those large paintings. These conventions are shared also by the single Bodhisattva figures in many fine silk banners of the Collection,[38] and our dated picture proves them to have been already fully established by the middle of the ninth century.

In contrast to these two Bodhisattvas, always easily identified, only the short Chinese inscriptions by the side of the four Avalokiteśvaras above can tell us which particular form of this most popular Bodhisattva is to be recognized in each figure.[39] All are practically alike in pose and dress except for some minor differences. All carry a red or red and white lotus in one hand, and all, except the Avalokiteśvara on the extreme left, a flask in the other. The dress comprises a long reddish-pink under-robe girt round the waist and reaching to the feet; a short tight upper skirt and a deep plastron passing over breast and shoulders. On the upper arms are close-fitting sleeves, half covered by armlets. Pink drapery hangs behind the shoulders and a narrow stole of green and red passes round them; thence it winds stiffly about the arms and ripples to the ground. The figure of the Dhyāni-buddha Amitābha appears on the tiara.

In all the details just mentioned these Avalokiteśvaras attach themselves to a class of Bodhisattva figures, largely represented among our banners, which reproduce characteristic Indian conventions in physical type, dress, pose, and flesh colouring with sufficient closeness to deserve the general designation of ‘Indian’.[40] Their juxtaposition with the more ‘Chinese’ Bodhisattvas in the lower half of our painting is instructive as helping to bring out the distinctions of the two types.

In the narrow panel below we see ranged on either side of the dedicatory inscription the donors and their ladies. The Chinese inscriptions attached to them acquaint us with their persons.[41] On the right kneels the father attired as a monk with his three sons kneeling in secular dress behind him. On the left are shown two nuns, members of the family, and behind them two ladies, wives of two of the sons. To the interest presented by the costumes of the secular figures I have had already occasion to allude.[42] The fashion represented in the dress and coiffure of the two ladies is particularly instructive as affording indications for the approximate dating of other paintings which show donatrix figures. The moderate width of the sleeves and the absence of ornaments in the head-dress distinguish this fashion of A.D. 864 very strikingly from that presented by the donatrices in tenth-century pictures. On the other hand, we see on the men’s heads the wide-brimmed black hats of the latter side by side with a stiff black cap of a manifestly earlier type.

PLATE XVII

AVALOKITEŚVARA IN GLORY

The large silk painting (Ch. lvi. 0019), reproduced in this Plate on a scale of slightly less than one-fourth of the original, may rank among the richest of the Collection in respect of decorative effect and colouring, and fortunately has survived in very fair preservation. It represents Avalokiteśvara in his thousand-armed and eleven-headed form, surrounded by numerous groups of divinities constituting his ‘Maṇḍala’. The scheme is repeated on somewhat simpler lines in another fine painting, shown by Plate XLII. Elaborate as its representation is in ours, its interpretation is facilitated by the Chinese inscriptions attached to all the principal divine figures which appear in attendance on the great Bodhisattva of Mercy. Helped by these inscriptions M. Petrucci has been able to discuss at length the numerous and interesting questions of iconographic detail which are raised by figures in this and similar sumptuous compositions, and to his explanations and to the full description contained in _Serindia_ reference may conveniently be made here.[43]

In the centre of the painting we see Avalokiteśvara’s large figure surrounded by a nimbus-like disc. This is formed by his outer hands making up the theoretical number of a thousand, and each showing an open eye marked on the palm. Avalokiteśvara’s thousand arms, arranged in this fashion, are well known, too, to the later Buddhist iconography of India and meant to symbolize the merciful divinity’s desire to save all human beings at the same time. The Bodhisattva is shown seated on a lotus and under a richly tasselled canopy. His inner hands, apart from the four in front, hold a multiplicity of well-known sacred emblems, including the discs of the Sun and Moon, flasks of ambrosia, conch, willow spray, trident, Vajra, the Wheel of the Law, mace, &c. From the centre pair of inner hands a shaft of rainbow light streams upwards. His flesh is yellow, as usual, shaded with pink; his hair blue, of the same shade as the general background. Of the small subsidiary heads, two of demonic appearance are shown by the side of the ears and the rest in three tiers above the tiara.

Among the attendant divinities we see at the top of the canopy the Bodhisattvas of the Sun and Moon seated behind their five white geese and five white horses respectively. In the upper corners appear on finely painted clouds the ‘Buddhas of the ten quarters of the Universe’, arranged as all the attendant deities in symmetrical groups. Below them are seated pairs of Bodhisattvas with elaborate flower-decked haloes and nimbi. Beneath them come on the right Indra with three attendants, and on the left Brahman with two. All are shown kneeling and wearing Chinese official dress of a rich type. Beneath again are shown two monstrous divinities, both unmistakably Śivaitic. On the right Mahākāla with three heads and six arms reclines on the back of Śiva’s bull. On the left Maheśvara, of demonic appearance, stands with legs apart upon a crocodile-headed snake; his middle hands grasp pike and cords which hold two half-naked humans.

Below the lotus seat of Avalokiteśvara are seen emaciated _pretas_ or beings in hell clutching with outstretched hands at showers of white grains (ambrosia) which Avalokiteśvara pours on them. In front of his lotus seat lies a tank in which stand two stalwart Nāgas upholding the stem of the lotus. They are in human shape, but carry above their heads a crest formed of five snake-heads, their ancient Indian emblem. Besides smaller Nāga figures of the same type the tank holds an infant soul (now almost destroyed) rising from a lotus.

The bottom corners are occupied on each side by a larger group of attendants. The central figure in each case is a four-armed female divinity of beneficent aspect, dressed like a Bodhisattva and seated on a bird. The one on the right rides on a phoenix and is followed by a Buddha. The female deity behind him is of interest, as from the children in her arms she may be recognized as the goddess Hāritī, whom a pious Indian legend represents as a wicked ogress converted into a patroness of children.[44] The female divinity on the left is riding on a peacock, with two attendants behind her who in the absence of attributes or inscriptions remain unidentified. Lower down on either side are seen standing two Lokapālas, Kings of the Quarters, in armour, and in each of the bottom corners a demonic Vajrapāṇi, six-armed and serpent-decked, straddling against a background of flames. At the feet of each sits a smaller demon with a boar’s head. Before the Lokapālas and close to the edge of the tank are seated on the right an emaciated old man in ascetic garb, and on the left a richly-robed nymph offering flowers. Both these figures, described elsewhere as the ‘Sage of the Air (?)’ and ‘Nymph of Virtue’, are with particular clearness seen again in Plate XLII.

On the iconographic side the interest of this sumptuous presentation of Avalokiteśvara’s ‘Maṇḍala’ is obvious, were it only for the appearance in it of such Śivaitic deities as Mahākāla and Maheśvara. These aptly illustrate the influence which Hindu mythology, even in its later development, continued to exercise on the Buddhist Pantheon of Central Asia and the Far East. On the artistic side attention is claimed by the skill shown in the ordinance of the whole and the drawing of individual figures. But it is in particular the highly effective colour treatment which makes this picture rank with the most impressive in the Collection.

PLATE XVIII

AVALOKITEŚVARA STANDING, WITH WILLOW SPRAY

It is to qualities very different from those of the preceding picture that the figure of a standing Avalokiteśvara (Ch. 0091), reproduced in Plate XVIII in half the size of the original, owes its special charm. The silk painting has lost portions of its sides and the whole below the knees of the figure, and the colouring throughout has much faded. But the disappearance of paint helps to bring out more clearly the excellence of the design and the very delicate drawing of figure and features. With workmanship showing mastery of a fully established technique in details, the painting combines an air of individual feeling which makes its subject one of the finest single figures amongst our Ch‘ien-fo-tung paintings.

Avalokiteśvara stands facing the spectator, with head erect but eyes downcast. His pose, with the weight thrown on the right hip and the body aslant to the left shoulder, is characteristically Indian. The head is that of a young man and shows marked influence of Gandhāra art in its features. The nose is long and straight, the brow high, and the eyes only slightly oblique. The moderately arched eyebrows sweep in a slightly recurved line to the outer edge of the brow. The thinner cheeks and more natural proportion of the features give to the face a distinct individuality which those of the conventional semi-feminine Bodhisattvas lack. The expression is meditative and remote, the pose graceful and dignified at the same time. The right hand is raised in the _vitarka-mudrā_ at the breast with a willow spray between the thumb and fingers; the left hanging by the side holds the flask and a twining spray with pink flowers.

The attire and head-dress are of the conventional style associated with the Bodhisattva type which has above been designated as ‘Chinese’. The Dhyāni-buddha Amitābha is shown on the front of the tiara, which is a simple circlet ornamented with flaming jewels and long tassels at the ears. The hair done in double-leaf form appears above it. Instead of the under-robe a light red scarf is thrown over the breast. A stole of grey and olive green, much faded, clings to shoulders and upper arms and is festooned across the front of the figure. From the waist descends the skirt, apparently brown.

In the right lower corner appear two small figures kneeling and holding lotus buds. They represent evidently donors, a boy and a girl. The way in which their hair is dressed, the boy’s parted and tied in a double bunch on either side of the head and the girl’s parted and tied behind, is not usual in our paintings. The plain long-sleeved robes covering the figures from neck to feet afford no clue to the dating.

PLATE XIX

TWO AVALOKITEŚVARAS WITH THE WILLOW SPRAY

The Bodhisattva of Mercy presents himself again, standing and without attendants, in the two silk paintings which this Plate reproduces on the scale of two-fifths of the originals. In both the portion of the figure below the knees is lost. The painting on the left (Ch. xxii. 0030) shows a good example of the Bodhisattva type which above we have referred to as ‘Chinese’, executed with much skill and refinement.

Avalokiteśvara, facing three-fourths to the right, raises the willow spray in his right hand, while the left at the waist carries the flask. The movement shown in the tassels of the canopy above the halo suggests that the figure was intended as walking; it is drawn particularly soft and full. The low forehead, full cheeks, small mouth and chin, and oblique eyes under highly arched eyebrows are characteristic of the type. The hair is black and descends in a love-lock by the ear. In front of the tasselled tiara stands the Dhyāni-buddha Amitābha with the right hand raised in the pose of ‘Protection’. Above the skirt, which forms an overfall at the waist, is shown an under-robe rising only to the breasts. A stole of fine dull blue forms the chief note of colour in the picture. The jewellery is elaborate and plentifully studded with pale pink stones. The cartouche to the right is filled with a Chinese inscription containing a salutation to Kuan-yin.

In the other painting (Ch. lvi. 0016) Avalokiteśvara is shown facing three-fourths to the left with both arms raised from the elbows. His hands here, too, hold willow spray and flask, but in reversed order. The upper portion of the head is lost; what remains of the features, including the eyes fixed in a straight gaze to the front, shows delicate drawing. The flesh is white shaded with pink. Over a crimson under-robe and orange-red skirt descends in ample folds a stole of olive green. To the usual heavy jewellery is added a small string of beads round the neck. The workmanship is clean and sure.

PLATE XX

AVALOKITEŚVARA WITH FLAME-WREATHED HALO

The fine silk painting (Ch. xviii. 003) reproduced here on a scale of a little over two-thirds of the original is a work of considerable artistic merit and is without a pendant in the Collection. It shows a standing Avalokiteśvara painted in a style which shows affinity to the ‘Indian’ type of Bodhisattva figures previously mentioned but has marked peculiarities of its own. The picture is complete, but the bare upper part of the figure painted with dull red outlines and comparatively faint pink colouring has unfortunately much faded, while the more solid and brilliant colours of the dress and jewellery are well preserved and in consequence now absorb a disproportionate share of attention.

Avalokiteśvara stands facing the spectator with his feet planted on the bright green centres of two open dark-pink lotuses. His face, turned slightly towards the right shoulder with eyes downcast, bears an expression of serious mildness, as if of comprehending pity. The hair about the forehead is shown in pale blue, the eyebrows light green. Eyelashes, pupils of eyes, and the dividing line of lips, being painted in black, stand out distinctly among the otherwise faded features. Both arms are raised at the elbow, the right holding the willow spray over the shoulder, while the left carries on the open palm a short flask of blue and pink. The dress consists mainly of brilliant scarlet sprinkled with small blue trefoils and tied at the waist with a narrow blue girdle. A green sash is also loosely knotted round the hips. A long narrow stole of dark pink lined with green winds round the body from the left shoulder and flutters about the arms. White draperies descend from behind the head and shoulders.

The head-dress consists of a gilded circlet with a ball over the forehead supporting the Dhyāni-buddha’s figure, and behind this of a tall cylindrical piece in dark pink and green surmounted by what may be meant for a topknot of hair but is now almost effaced. The rich jewellery is set with stones of bright scarlet, blue, and copper green, and hung with strings of pearls. A large greenish disc wreathed with scarlet flames forms a nimbus. Open lotus flowers are seen floating down in the air. The Chinese inscription in the left top corner describes the painting as the gift of a son in memory of his father, without recording the date of its dedication.

PLATE XXI

AVALOKITEŚVARA STANDING

The figure of Avalokiteśvara which this Plate shows us on the scale of one-third of the original silk painting (Ch. liii. 005), well preserved except for the extreme top and bottom, shares with the Bodhisattvas of ‘Indian’ style characteristic features of physical type, pose, and dress. But the air of grace and gentleness which the Chinese painter has here infused into the formality of their conventions invests the figure with a peculiar charm and raises it well above their average level as a work of art.

We see Avalokiteśvara standing with the slender-waisted body inclined from the left shoulder and its weight thrown on the right hip in characteristic Indian pose. But the stiffness of this attitude, just as that of certain traditionally fixed details in the dress, is transformed by sweeping Chinese brush lines. The figure stands slightly to the left, with the eyes gazing down and the hands holding the usual attributes of the willow spray and the flask. The face is short and round, the mouth slightly larger than usual, with a tiny moustache and a tuft of beard indicated below by a small curl. The eyes are wide apart and almost level, but with a finely recurved line added to the eyelids. The flesh is white shaded with red.

Over a long orange skirt, draped in conventional folds, the Bodhisattva wears a short and tight over-skirt of Indian red, sprinkled with blue and white rosettes. Over it is festooned a narrow cord-like band hanging in loops and streamers by the sides. The costume is completed by an olive-green girdle, a red scarf across the breast, and a narrow stole of dark chocolate colour descending from about the arms to the feet. The richly jewelled ornaments agree in general type with those seen on the four ‘Indian’ Bodhisattvas of Plate XVI, but the Dhyāni-buddha is absent from the tiara. The slate-blue outer border of the nimbus is ornamented with a ring of ‘enclosed palmettes’ in blue and white, as often seen elsewhere in Bodhisattva haloes.

PLATE XXII

TWO AVALOKITEŚVARA PAINTINGS WITH DONORS

In both the silk paintings which this Plate reproduces on the scale of three-sevenths, we see Avalokiteśvara represented in ‘Indian’ style and beside or below him the donors. In the picture on the left (Ch. liv. 006) the figure of the standing Bodhisattva is treated on very formal lines, typical of the ‘Indian’ style already repeatedly mentioned, and the colouring in bright crude tints solidly laid on is equally characteristic. Apart from the hieratic stiffness of the whole figure and pose it will suffice to call attention to such peculiar features as the narrow band descending from the head-dress to the knees and festooned in front of the body, and the loose locks of hair which hang over the shoulders. The hair is painted ultramarine, the flesh white and shaded with vermilion. The eyebrows raised disproportionately high over the almost straight eyes are, as often elsewhere, shown green. Avalokiteśvara stands on a large scarlet and white lotus which floats on a lake or stream. Behind him on green land is shown a row of tall bamboos filling the background.

To the left of the Bodhisattva appears standing the figure of the nun whom one of the Chinese inscriptions names as the donatrix, with a date corresponding to A.D. 910.[45] She wears a wide-sleeved yellow under-robe with flowered band across her breast and a purplish-brown mantle. Her close-cropped hair is shown in ultramarine, and her hands carry a censer. Opposite to her stands a boy offering a scarlet lotus on a dish; he wears a long-skirted dark brown coat slit at the side and showing wide white trousers underneath. M. Petrucci recognizes in him the nun’s defunct younger brother, whom the dedicatory inscription associates with her votive gift.

The picture on the right (Ch. xl. 008) is in perfect condition and represents Avalokiteśvara, six-armed and seated, together with side scenes and donors. His upper hands hold up discs emblematic of the Sun and Moon, showing a three-legged bird and a tree respectively; the middle hands are raised on either side of the breast in the _vitarka-mudrā_, while the lower hands with rosary and flask rest on the knees. In front of him is placed a small draped altar with flasks and a covered dish. The Bodhisattva’s figure, within the limitations imposed by the conventional treatment, is very carefully drawn and the colouring well preserved and unusual. It consists mainly of terra-cotta red on the garments (excepting the stole, which is very dark brownish olive), and of white shaded with light pink on the flesh. A harsh yellow is used for the jewellery, while the ground throughout is left in the dark greenish-brown of the silk.

Down the sides are shown, in animated and expressive drawing of purely Chinese style, scenes representing Calamities from which Avalokiteśvara miraculously saves his worshippers.[46] On the right above we see a man, naked except for a loin-cloth, threatened with having his head cut off. Lower down two men are fleeing with their arms over their heads, while a thunder-cloud in the sky, represented like a monstrous Nāga, showers black drops on them. Below a man stands calmly in a pyramid of flame into which another behind appears to have pushed him. On the left above a man is being pushed by another over a precipice; but half-way down he is seen again composedly seated on a cloud. The next scene shows a man kneeling in an arched recess with his head in a _cangue_, while in front of him are wooden instruments for fettering feet and hands. At the bottom stands a man looking calm although surrounded by a snake, scorpion, and an animal apparently meant for a tiger.

In the bottom portion of the painting are shown the donors, on either side of a cartouche intended for a dedicatory inscription. Their figures are drawn with much care and offer good examples of costumes belonging to the tenth century. Of the men on the right the one in front holds a censer and the other a lotus bud between his hands joined in adoration. On the left kneels a lady in a wide big-sleeved robe; her hair is held by a central framework and big pins, painted in pink and white, but lacks the usual flowers and leaves. Behind her stands a boy in long white trousers and a flowered pink and white tunic, with his hair parted and ornamented on the top by a big bow.

PLATE XXIII

SIX-ARMED AVALOKITEŚVARA WITH ATTENDANT BODHISATTVAS

The large silk painting (Ch. xxvi. 001) of which this Plate is a half-size reproduction was in its original condition a very fine composition, but has suffered much damage. The lower end has been destroyed by fire, the right edge is lost, and several large holes show where dark green paint has corroded the silk. Much of the colouring is gone; yet in spite of all these vicissitudes enough remains to prove the refined design of the whole and the sureness of the drawing.

The picture shows a six-armed Avalokiteśvara seated on a large white lotus in the attitude known as that of ‘royal ease’, with the right knee raised and the head inclined over the right shoulder. This characteristically ‘Indian’ pose corresponds to the slim-waisted body and the dress of ‘Indian’ Bodhisattva type. It is only in figures of the latter that we find the flower-ornamented caps over the knees here seen. The upper hands with gracefully curved fingers are raised towards the head; of the middle ones the right is raised before the breast in the _vitarka-mudrā_, while the left is held below palm up; the lower hands hang down below the knees. No emblems are displayed, except the Dhyāni-buddha in the front of the tiara, which appears as a high solid cone of chased bronze.

The ornamentation of the circular halo and nimbus is very elaborate and effective. Vandyke and flower patterns fill the former, waving rays the nimbus. One continuous flame border outlines the free edges of both, while a broad band of white surrounds them and encloses the whole figure in a circle of light. A string of small flowers seen in profile defines the outer edge of this circle.

Above it is seen a canopy set with flaming jewels. On either side of this appears a small Bodhisattva seated on a lotus which grows on a twining stem. Two corresponding figures occupying the bottom corners are all but destroyed.

In the colouring different shades of red and green prevailed, together with white; but the last, as well as the yellow on Avalokiteśvara’s flesh, has been rubbed off in most places.

PLATE XXIV

TWO PAPER PAINTINGS OF AVALOKITEŚVARA

The two pictures reproduced here both represent Avalokiteśvara and are painted on paper; but their interest varies greatly in character. The one on the right (Ch. i. 009, scale two-thirds of original) shows the Bodhisattva sitting by the water on a bank under willows. This representation of Avalokiteśvara is found only in one other picture of our collection and claims special iconographic interest because, as Mr. Binyon points out, according to Far-Eastern tradition ‘it was an Emperor of the Sung period who first in a dream saw’ Avalokiteśvara as he is here depicted ‘and commanded the dream to be painted; but, no doubt, the subject is of earlier origin’.[47] We shall see below that in the case of Kṣitigarbha, too, the evidence of the Ch‘ien-fo-tung paintings proves a certain iconographic type to have developed earlier than Japanese tradition would lead us to assume.

Avalokiteśvara, dressed and adorned in the style of an ‘Indian’ Bodhisattva, is seated with the right foot tucked under and the left pendent, resting on an open lotus which rises from the water. His right hand holds a willow branch and his left the usual emblem of the flask. The whole figure is enclosed in a large circular halo drawn in red outline. A group of conventional willow trees fills the right segment of the halo and rises above it. On the opposite side there appears above on a cloud the small-scale figure of a man in a Chinese magistrate’s robes and head-dress, kneeling with hands joined in adoration. Two boys wearing their hair in rolls behind the neck stand at his back. A draped canopy extends across the upper end of the picture. At its bottom, on the bank bordering the water, is shown an altar. Flanking it on the right appears the donor, carrying a censer and wearing the black coat and wide-brimmed hat characteristic of tenth-century male costume. Four cartouches distributed over the picture have remained uninscribed.

The drawing is careful and the execution superior notwithstanding the simplicity of the colour scheme, restricted mainly to scarlet, light blue, and pale green.

The picture reproduced on the left (Ch. 0054), on the scale of three-fifths of the original, has some interesting peculiarities. Above we see seated on a rectangular platform a Bodhisattva who from the attendant divinities and the emblem, a tall vase, held by the one to his right, may safely be assumed to represent Avalokiteśvara. His dress, coiffure, and accessories are those of Bodhisattva figures of the type above distinguished as ‘Chinese’. The decoration of the platform, which, as the lions’ heads appearing in pairs below within arched openings show, is meant for a _siṃhāsana_ or ‘lion’s throne’, reproduces textile patterns manifestly influenced by ‘Sassanian’ models.

The presentation of only the left half of the god’s ‘Maṇḍala’ is an unusual feature but accounted for by the narrow shape of the painting, no doubt intended for a banner. It comprises below two Bodhisattvas standing in adoration, next a pair of haloed monks, above them two Lokapālas, and at the top a trident-carrying demon. One of the Lokapālas is characterized by his jewelled mace as Virūḍhaka, Regent of the South. To the right of the central deity and below the canopy three infants are shown kneeling on a cloud and playing on flute, mouth-organ, and clappers. Below them again and by the side of the large halo stands a small Bodhisattva, also carried on a cloud and clasping the tall vase already referred to. It is stoppered and mottled blue and white, obviously in imitation of glazed ceramic ware.