drawing; 圖畫(Chinese) BM-1919-0101-0.163

Period:Tang dynasty Production date:851-950 (circa)
Materials:paper, 紙 (Chinese),
Technique:drawn, 手繪的 (Chinese),
Subjects:monk/nun religious object tree/bush 和尚/尼姑 (Chinese) 法器 (Chinese) 樹/灌木 (Chinese)
Dimensions:Height: 54 centimetres Width: 38 centimetres Depth: 0.10 centimetres

Description:
Finely drawn portrait of a monk, with his hands in dhyana-mudra (gesture of meditation) His shoes are placed in front of his prayer mat, his kundika behind, and his bag and rosary are hung on a dry tree. Ink on paper.
IMG


Comments:EnglishFrom Whitfield 1983:This fine drawing of a monk has a rather special place among the paintings of the Stein collection. In Pl. 49 we have already seen how the arhat Kalika was represented as a Chinese monk seated on his mat, his staff planted in the ground beside him and his leather wallet hanging from it. The staff and the wallet, which in the present painting is hung on a tree instead, were standard items of equipment for a traveling monk, together with others such as the water vase, rosary and shoes shown here. Several of these items also appear in the wall paintings of the small cave that has come to be known as the sealed library, where all the manuscripts and paintings were obtained by Stein, Pelliot and others. In fact this small cave was a memorial chapel for Hongbian, the chief of the monks in Hexi. He died circa A.D. 862, and the memorial chapel must have been hollowed out around that time. Most recently, a portrait statue of Hongbian has been identified and returned to the cave; it had been removed to an upper storey, probably in the eleventh century when the manuscripts and paintings were all stored away and sealed (see Wenwu, 1978/12).Although there is no suggestion that the present drawing could represent the same monk (in fact it probably dates some fifty years or more after Hongbian’s death), it seems very appropriate that this form of monk portrait should have been preserved in such a memorial chapel. The statue in Cave 17 is seated in meditation posture on a low platform, on one end of which are painted his shoes, with cloud toes like those seen here and like those of which actual examples have been preserved in the Stein collection (see Vol. 3). The wall paintings behind the statue in Cave 17 provide a grander setting, with large trees and two attendant figures, but the leather wallet and water-bottle hanging from the trees are just as prominently portrayed. One of Pelliot’s photographs (Grottes,Pl. XCⅦ) shows another niche with a statue of a monk, while the setting for another is in Cave 443, once more with trees and a whole array of equipment: water-bottle, staff, and several bags and wallets (see Wenwu, 1978/12).The drawing is an excellent example of ink outline drawing at Dunhuang of which numerous other examples have been published by Jao Tsong-yi (1978). One is also reminded of the fine portrayal of a monk holding an incense burner at the end of the scrolls of Buddhist iconography of the Kongokai Mandara (Tang dynasty, eighth century, owned by Onjo-ji, Shiga prefecture). Eminent monks such as Hongbian, who was accorded the privilege of wearing purple by the emperor after Dunhuang returned to Chinese rule in A.D. 847, were important figures at Dunhuang, closely associated with the ruling families and with the dedication of new or reconstructed caves.The ink lines are confidently drawn, well modulated to show the features of the face and the fall of draperies over the figure. A date in the late ninth or very early tenth century is suggested on account of the hooked mouthline and the way in which the eye begins to break the outline of the face. ChineseFrom Whitfield 1983:此畫是用優美的墨線繪的高僧像，在斯坦因收集的绘画中，是一件很特殊的作品。在圖49中，曾看過以中國僧侶形象描繪的迦理迦尊者坐在墊子上，旁邊立著錫杖，其上挂著革袋。在此畫中，雖然革袋是挂在樹上，但無論怎樣，像錫杖、革袋，再加上此畫中出現的水瓶、念珠、靴子等，都是雲遊僧标准的必備品。在斯坦因与伯希和所獲的经卷、绘画的藏經洞壁畫中，也可見到那些物品中的若干件。本來那小窟是河西僧統洪辯的影窟，洪辯去世的年代爲862年左右，此小窟也是那時期開鑿的。近年，洪辯的塑像被確認，移入洞內。大概是11世紀把經典和繪畫等封进洞窟時，移到上方洞窟的（參照《文物》1978年第12期）。雖然此畫本身不是描繪的洪辯（恐怕此繪畫的製作是在洪辯死後50年，或者過了更長時間），但此種形式的高僧像收入僧人的影窟非常適宜。第17窟（藏經洞）中的洪辯像，是冥思沉想的坐像，安置於低臺上，台的一側繪著也在此畫中見到的雲頭履。在斯坦因的搜集品中有這種靴子的實物（見第3卷）。第17窟塑像背後描繪的壁畫場面宏大，繪有兩棵很大的樹和兩個侍者。特別是挂在樹上的革袋和水瓶的寫實的描繪，很引人注目。伯希和拍攝的一張照片（參照《石窟圖錄》圖版97）中，見到有安置高僧像的別的窟的佛龕，另外，在第443窟的壁畫中，也描繪有樹，水瓶、錫杖、革袋、雲頭履等所有的裝備也都繪了進去（參照《文物》1978年第12期）。饒宗頤教授的《敦煌白畫》中介紹了很多墨畫的範例，本圖的繪畫是那些敦煌墨畫中特别优秀的作品之一，與《五部心觀》（唐代8世紀的作品，現藏于滋賀縣的圓城寺）卷末见到的持香爐僧侶们的精美肖像相仿。唐朝收复敦煌後（847年）以後，敦煌的高僧，像洪辯一樣受了唐朝皇帝的賜紫，在敦煌是舉足輕重的重要人物，與地方豪族有密切聯繫，與石窟的新建和修復有密切的關係。此畫中的墨線充滿自信，表情以及裹着身体的衣紋線描都非常美。從嘴角的鈎狀表现，和断開臉部輪廓線顯示的眼睛等手法判斷，此作品的製作年代在9世紀末至10世紀初之間。