banner; painting; 幡(Chinese); 繪畫(Chinese) BM-1919-0101-0.101

Period:Tang dynasty Production date:9thC
Materials:silk, 絲綢 (Chinese),
Technique:painted
Subjects:bodhisattva lotus 菩薩 (Chinese) 蓮花 (Chinese)
Dimensions:Height: 44.50 centimetres Width: 14.50 centimetres

Description:
Painted banner of a bodhisattva standing on a lotus, with a three-pronged tiara. He wears a tightly-wrapped dhoti and flowered scarves of purple and green. (One of a series of ten. See also 1919,0101,0.102 and 103. The remaining seven are in New Delhi). Ink and colour on silk.
IMG


Comments:EnglishFrom Whitfield 1982:This plate and the following two show some of a series of ten banners (the remainder in New Delhi, several illustrated in Matsumoto, 1937, Pls. 201-02) with features that obviously represent some of the non-Chinese characters of the art of Dunhuang, and may in fact relate to the art of Khotan or of Western Tibet.All of these banners share certain characteristics: the Bodhisattvas stand with feet close together, the legs almost straight with no articulation at the knee. The upper half of the body is naked save for a shawl with floral motifs (in one of them it has been knotted around the thighs instead). All wear a tightly wrapped dhoti with the end falling from the waist to fill a narrow space between the legs. They wear a three-pronged golden tiara, with elongated halo behind and ring-lets of black hair falling behind the ears and over the shoulder, as in some of the other figures associated with the Tibetan period at Dunhuang. Some have brief inscriptions in Tibetan.Stein and Waley both drew attention to similarities with the miniatures of a Nepalese manuscript of the eleventh century at Cambridge (Foucher, 1900-05, Pls. Ⅳ-Ⅵ) owing its origins to the eighth-and ninth-century Buddhist art of Bengal. A more recent and convincing case has been made, however, by Gerd Gropp (1974, p.94) whose reconstruction of paintings from Balawaste has allowed him to attribute this group to the art of Khotan. He draws particular attention to the clumsy execution of the feet and legs, as typical also of the Bodhisattvas with naked upper torso from Balawaste. The striped clothing also exhibits some of the same textile patterns. In his view, the paintings found at Dunhuang must be somewhat later than those at Balawaste (dating from the sixth century onwards), and the rosettes along the top edge of Pl.48 need to be compared with those found in Temple 9 at Bezeklik, of the eighth to ninth centuries A.D. ChineseFrom Whitfield 1982:此畫和接下來的兩個圖表現了十個幡的系列中的一部分，其餘的在新德里，其中幾件收錄於松本榮一氏(1937,圖201-02)很明顯這些不是中國特色的敦煌藝術，事實上可能與于闐或者吐蕃藝術有關係。 所有幡畫具有共同特徵：菩薩雙腳並攏站立，腳幾乎是筆直的，看不出膝關節。上半身裸露，只披了稍加花紋的天衣（其中一個只是在大腿上打結來代替天衣）。全都穿了裹得很緊的腰布，腰部的末端從腰部垂下位於兩腿之間的部分，他們像吐蕃時期敦煌畫中常見的諸像一樣，戴著金色通天冠，黑色卷髮從耳後垂到肩上，頭後面的光環向四週發著光。一些地方可見吐蕃文的短句。斯坦因和Waley都注意到劍橋大學藏的尼泊爾古文書中的小型畫像與這些菩薩像的相似性，並把它們的起源歸結於8、9世紀孟加拉地區的佛教藝術。Gerd Gropp (1974,p.94) 還找到了一個更近、更有說服力的證據，他重親恢復了Balawaste的畫之後認爲這些畫就是于闐藝術，它尤其關注對腳和腿部的笨拙處理，這種方法在Balawaste的赤裸著上身的菩薩像中也很常見。該畫的條紋布料也顯示了一些在那些紡織品中的共同圖案。根據他的觀點，敦煌發現的畫無論如何一定晚於Balawaste的畫(其時代是六世紀以前的)，而圖48頂部邊上的玫瑰花飾需要與那些在伯孜克里克第9窟發現的成於公元8、9世紀的花紋作比較。