drawing; 圖畫(Chinese) BM-1919-0101-0.169

Period:Tang dynasty Production date:851-900 (circa)
Materials:paper, 紙 (Chinese),
Technique:drawn, 手繪的 (Chinese),
Subjects:mammal 哺乳動物 (Chinese)
Dimensions:Height: 29.80 centimetres Width: 42.80 centimetres

Description:
Sketch for a painting with a masterly drawn lion stepping forward. Ink on paper.
IMG


Comments:EnglishFrom Whitfield 1983:This drawing is one of the most impressive of the animals found at Dunhuang. Its immediate impact as it strikes the eye is due to its powerful compositional structure, and it leaves the viewer in no doubt as to the stature of the artist. At the same time, the rhythm of the ink lines does not seem to suggest the use of the brush, since all the lines are short and nowhere do they show the parting of the brush hairs. In the case of longer spirals, for example those forming the manes, these seem to be made up of two or more arcs or semicircles. Most of the strokes also end in a point, and there are fairly abrupt transitions from thick to thin and vice-versa. Similar strokes in a sketch of a horse from the Pelliot collection have been described as jianbi 簡筆 (abbreviated brushstrokes) by Jao Tsong-yi (1978, Pelliot chinois 2951, Pl. LⅡ), and they have also been discussed in the context of the banner paintings (Vol. 1, Pls. 56-58), where such short discontinuous strokes appear side with long, smooth, continuous strokes clearly done with the brush, and with colour washes also added with the brush. It would therefore seem that the short strokes were done with a stiffer instrument. This might have been a wooden or reed pen, although those examples so far actually discovered seem more adapted for the writing of certain non-Chinese scripts with distinctive regular features than for this kind of free pictorial representation. The banner paintings are clear evidence that the hair brush was used at the same time, to the use of a stiffer instrument for a drawing such as the lion must have been deliberate in order to obtain certain vivid effects. ChineseFrom Whitfield 1983:此繪畫也是敦煌發現動物畫中給人印象最深刻的作品之一。首先奪目的是強有力的構圖風格，從這一點誰都不能不承認畫家技術的高超。同時，線描是有節奏的粗短線，看不到筆尖分開的痕迹，會不會是用毛筆繪的，這一點也應引起注意。例如，頭上鬃的長卷毛，線條都是由二根或者更多的半圓形弧線組成，其他的線條也有在中途連接時，粗線突然變成細線，有時則相反。同樣的筆法還見于伯希和收集品中繪馬的畫（參照P.2951《敦煌白畫》圖52），饒宗頤教授把它稱爲“簡筆”。有關此筆法，曾在幡畫項（參照第1卷圖56～58解說）中也接觸到了，那些作品中斷斷續續的短線，與分明是只有用毛筆才能畫出的流暢的長線拼在一起用，短的線描顯然是使用了某種硬筆畫的，還加了用毛筆表現的暈染。硬筆可能是用木和蘆制的，而至今發掘的遺物是，與其說在繪畫中使用，還不如考慮爲，只是用於寫漢字以外的非常整齊的文字時所用的工具。但在幡畫中，確實是與毛筆合用，像本獅子圖一樣的白描畫中，也爲獲得逼真的效果而使用。