banner; painting; 幡(Chinese); 繪畫(Chinese) BM-1919-0101-0.205

Period:Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Production date:926-975 (circa)
Materials:silk, 絲綢 (Chinese),
Technique:painted
Subjects:bodhisattva,flower 菩薩 (Chinese) 花 (Chinese)
Dimensions:Height: 835 centimetres (length) Width: 28 centimetres

Description:
A long banner showing nine bodhisattvas, with floral motif above each and laudatory inscription in cartouche beside each figure. Painted in ink on silk.
IMG


Comments:EnglishFrom Whitfield 1983:This banner shows a third combination, of ink alone on yellow silk, to add to those already seen. A narrow strip of red silk is sewn across the top, which is also marked by a larger floral motif above the topmost Bodhisattva (there are nine in all).The figures, each identified in an accompanying cartouche, are quickly sketched in slightly wavering, discontinuous lines. The three horizontal breaks seen near the waist and hips of the Bodhisattva are repeated three or four times over the whole length. They must have been caused by irregularities in the table surface as successive sections were drawn on it. The character of the lines, and of these interruptions, suggest that the brush used was a relatively stiff one. I hesitate to conclude that a reed pen or a wooden pen was used because the instrument was capable of a fair degree of modulation in line thickness. ChineseFrom Whitfield 1983:此幡相當於上述圖32解說中第三組的作品，黃色底上用墨繪菩薩像。上端縫有紅色窄絹布，其下和最上部的菩薩像（共有九身菩薩像）之間插入了大的花卉紋。九身菩薩，是以略帶抖動的快速筆法描繪的，長方形題箋中記有各像的尊名。有三、四身像的軀幹和腰周圍可見三條水平印痕，這也許是製作時使用的案子表面不平，而出現的接口。從線的特徵和這些印痕看，使用了相對較硬的筆。雖然不能明確斷定，但從線的粗細和抑揚看，可能是蘆筆或者木筆。