banner; textile; painting; 幡(Chinese); 紡織品(Chinese); 繪畫(Chinese) BM-MAS.888

Period:Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Production date:10thC
Materials:silk, 絲綢 (Chinese),
Technique:twill damask, painted, 綾 (Chinese), 彩繪 (Chinese),
Subjects:buddha lotus 佛 (Chinese) 蓮花 (Chinese)
Dimensions:Height: 58.50 centimetres (Mounted on padded board) Height: 54 centimetres Thickness: 2 centimetres (Mounted on padded board) Width: 58.50 centimetres (Mounted on padded board) Width: 54 centimetres

Description:
This is a square damask piece, originally a head for a banner which has been folded in half and painted with two Buddhas, each seated on a lotus. The textile is white twill damask showing half of a lion over 40 cm long, with only the head and tail still visible. This design was previously misinterpreted by Stein as a floral pattern, and Roderick Whitfield as phoenixes. The lion may be in a crouching or walking position, as seen in a paper painting found in Cave 17. There is a small pattern to the left of the lion, probably a stone, and another opposite the head, and symmetrically repeated along the warp direction. However, there is no woven pattern where the lion’s body should be, indicating that this is probably the beginning of the fabric. There is a similar banner head in the V&A loan collection: a similar image of the Buddha is painted on a different woven damask image of the lion (LOAN:STEIN.490). On the basis of the style of the painting, Roderick Whitfield dated this piece to the Five Dynasties. Weave structures: Warp: silk, untwisted, single, 51 ends/cm; Weft: silk, untwisted, single, 28 lats/cm. Weave structure: 1/5S twill pattern on 2/1S twill ground. 這件正方形的織物原是一件幡首，對折後的兩個三角形區域內各繪一坐於蓮座上的佛像。 繪畫的底料是白色同向綾，綾上所織的圖案斯坦因認爲是花卉，韋陀在《西域美術》中認爲是鳳凰，但實際上應該是半個獅紋，僅見獅頭和獅尾，獅身橫向長達40cm以上，可能作蹲狀或行走狀，其造型可能與敦煌藏經洞發現的另一件紙本獅紋繪畫相似。獅尾後還另有一紋樣已殘，可能爲山石之類。獅頭以上沿經線方向還有一對稱的獅紋，僅見頭部。獅身處僅是素織，或許爲機頭。類似的幡首在與V&A博物館中也有收藏（LOAN:STEIN.490），也是手繪蓮花座佛，但其白綾的圖案卻所有不同。根據繪畫的風格，韋陀在《西域美術》中將這件織物的年代定在五代。 組織結構： 經線：絲，無撚，單根排列，51根/cm；緯線：絲，無撚，單根排列，28根/cm；組織：2/1S斜紋地上1/5S斜紋顯花。
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