painting; banner; 繪畫(Chinese); 幡(Chinese) BM-1919-0101-0.216

Period:Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Production date:956
Materials:silk, 絲綢 (Chinese),
Technique:painted
Subjects:bodhisattva 菩薩 (Chinese)
Dimensions:Height: 396 centimetres (length) Width: 59 centimetres

Description:
Exceptionally long banner showing a series of nine bodhisattvas in two rows, all forms of Avalokiteśvara, identified by five individual names. The inscription forms a rectangular panel stretching across the top, and the remainder of the the banner is formed of a single width of silk split down the centre to form two narrower strips. Dated. Painted in ink and colours on silk.
IMG


Comments:EnglishFrom Whitfield 1983:A number of banners, both in the Stein collection and in the Pelliot collection at the Musee Guimet, are distinguished by their extreme length. One such, of a single, large than life-size Bodhisattva, has already been mentioned in the entry to Pl. 30 and appears in Vol. 3. The rest display not single figures, but series of Bodhisattvas or Buddhas, seated or standing, in almost identical representations arranged one above another. The majority are executed in brush outlines only, with little by way of modelling and little or no colouring. Instead, colourful effects were obtained by the use of colour in the silk material itself and for the outlines of the figures. Several combinations were therefore possible: one, of white outlines on dark blue, has already been seen in Pl. 30; another, of silver on red, was chosen for the large banner of Vol. 3. Other combinations can be seen in this plate and those that follow: red on yellow (Pls. 32, 33); yellow on blue (Pls. 34,35); and ink on yellow (Pls.36, 37).Although these banners are in no way narrative in content, their function has been clearly identified in connection with the cult of Bhaisajyaguru, the Medicine Buddha. The passage in question, from a section of the earliest Bhaisajyaguru sutra in a work called the Guanting jing 灌頂経, has been translated by Alexander Soper: If there should be some man or woman, gently born, who is desperately ill and lies on his bed in pain and distress…. Let this sutra be read in its entirety forty-nine times. I urge them to light a seven-tiered lamp, and to hang up parti-colored, life-lengthening spirit-banners…. These should be forty-nine feet long. The seven-tiered lamps should have seven lights per tier, following a form like a cart-wheel. Again, should [such a person] fall into danger or be imprisoned, with fetters loading down his body, he should have parti-coloured spirit-banners made and forty-nine lamps lit …. (Soper, 1959, p. 171.) 若族姓男女其有尩臝。著床痛惱無救諸者、……四十九遍讀是經典、勸然七層之燈、亦勤懸五色續命神幡……神幡五色四十九尺… ……七層之燈一層七燈、燈如車輸、若遭厄難閉在牢獄枷鎖著身、亦應造立五色神幡然四十九燈……The inscription (Fig. 47), which runs in bold if somewhat erratic running characters across the top of the present banner, immediately brings the above passage to mind (translation adapted from Waley): … Controller of the Guiyi army … member of the Order of Silverblue Luminous Salary, additional President of the Board of Works, Censor, Upper Pillar to the State … of Xihe jun, Ren Yanchao drawing blood respectfully (caused to be) painted this forty-nine foot banner in one strip. This banner suspended on high from a dragon hook … reach straight to … twisting about and flapping in the wind like a bird in flight, like the coloured (hangings) in the Western Apartments of the Palace. May his Excellency’s life be as that of the hills, his salary vast as the sea. May his lady wife long be spared; may her flower-like countenance forever bloom. Next, it is the object of this offering that his father and mother in the plain may long continue to announce themselves in health and security, and for them are desired the same blessings as for their son and his bride. The time being Da Zhou, third year of Xiande …. 令公壽同出嶽祿 飛鳩西□綵□願 □□宛轉飄飄似 龍鉤高曳直至於 九尺飜壹條其飜乃 任延朝刻血敬畫四十 史大夫上柱國西河郡 大夫檢校工部尚書兼御 …………使銀青光祿 ………歸義軍節度內□ 時大週顯德三年 比妻男同霑福祐于 父母長報安康在 花顔永茂次爲原中 比滄溟夫人延遐Such an inscription, with its clear reference to the passage cited by Soper, the donor’s wishes and the date, brings vividly to mind the realities of life in remote Dunhuang, far from the central Chinese plain whence news might come of his parents. The date, just before the establishment of the Song dynasty (A.D. 960), is of great use in helping to date other similar banners. The banner itself, perhaps because of its great size, does not have the typical triangular headpiece of the smaller banners: instead the inscription forms a rectangular panel stretching across the top, and the remainder of the banner is formed of a single width of silk, but split down the centre to form two narrower strips (Fig. 46).Nine Bodhisattvas, all forms of Avalokitesvara, and five of them still identified with individual names, are shown on these two strips. They are painted in clear colour washes, mainly red, but occasionally with areas of pale blue, yellow or green, with the outlines picked out in a brighter red, and with occasional use of ink. The same technique and similar colouring seem to have been used on a narrower long banner (H. 303 cm, W. 21 cm) in the Pelliot collection, featuring five apsarasas flying or playing musical instruments (Bannieres, No. 204). But it is clear that more than nine Bodhisattvas in all were originally shown on the double strip below the inscription. A new length can be seen to have been sewn on at the bottom of the left strip (Fig. 46), and as we have seen in the inscription the original length of the whole banner was intended to be forty-nine feet. Part of this further length can be identified. A series of three figures (two more Bodhisattvas and the disciple Ananda) (Fig. 48) on the same silk were noted by Waley as a continuation of this banner, and two details are shown in Pl. 33, showing the same hand in the inscriptions and the same pale blue wash used for the hair of the figures. This additional length, from the left side only, is very slightly narrower but has the same selvedge characteristics as the lower end of the top part, where a new length is sewn on. It ends with a portrait of the donor and two smaller figures, no doubt originally matched by that of his wife and her attendants on the opposite strip, now missing. Just as the total length may still have fallen short of the notional forty-nine feet, we may be sure the donor did not have the banner painted with his own blood, as claimed in the inscription: the red pigment used was probably a local red earth, tuhong 土紅 for the washes and cinnabar, zhu 朱 for the brighter outlines. Hanging a banner of this length would have presented no problems at Dunhuang, for example outside on the cliff face or inside a cave such as Cave 130, which shelters a twenty-six metre figure of the Buddha Amitabha from the eighth century. ChineseFrom Whitfield 1983:無論在斯坦因收集品中，還是在伯希和收集品中，都有相當數量的非常長的幡畫。其中有一件繪有一身巨大菩薩像的作品，收錄在第3卷中，曾在圖30的解說中提到過它。其他的幡畫不是獨立的巨像，而是或坐或立的佛像、菩薩像，幾乎以同樣的表現方式縱向連接的作品。大部分只用線描勾勒，沒有質感的表現，也很少或完全沒有色彩。這些主要是想通過絹的底色和線描的顔色來提高色彩的效果，通過幾個的組合可以想象出。一個是深藍色底子上用白線描的組合，前邊在圖30中所見的作品屬這一組。其次是紅色底子上用銀線描的組合，與此相似的長幡收錄在第3卷裏。圖32～37所刊載的，是黃色底子上用紅色、藍色底子上用黃色、黃色底子上用墨色等。這些幡中所繪的畫，不是圖解故事，但是與藥師信仰有關係的作品。在名為《灌頂經》的最早的《藥師經》中，可見到這樣一節记述： 若族姓男女其有尪贏。著床痛惱無救諸者， ……四十九遍讀是經典，勸然七層之燈，亦 勸懸五色續命神幡……神幡五色四十九尺… ……七層之燈一層七燈，燈如車輪，若遭厄 難閉在牢獄枷鎖著身，亦應造立五色神幡然 四十九燈…… 圖32的長幡中，也可见到記着與此有關的題記（參照Fig.47）。題記大膽採用奇特的書體，從左向右豎寫，錄文如下： 時大周顯德三年比妻男同霑福祐于父母長報安康在花顔永茂次爲原中比滄溟夫人延遐令公壽同山嶽祿飛鳩西□綵□願□□宛轉飄飄似龍鈎高曳直至於九尺飜壹條其飜乃任延朝刻□敬畫四十史大夫上柱國西河郡大夫檢校工部尚書兼御…………使銀青光祿……歸義軍節度內□從這題記中，不僅看出與前面所引的《灌頂經》的一節有關的記錄，還能反映在与父母居住的中原經常中斷通信的邊遠地區，在敦煌生活的供養人的真實生活。另外，紀年的顯德三年（956年），正值宋王朝成立（960年）之前，這也爲考證其他長幡的年代提供了一個大致的標準。此幡也許尺寸過大，沒有像小型幡那样的三角形幡頭。代替它的是，在用一幅絹製作的此幡上端，留出了長方形的空間，在那裏寫入題記。其下方的中心有切縫，成了兩根細长片（參照Fig.46）。此幡中所畫的九身菩薩均是觀音菩薩，其中五身像名可確認。各像塗著淡淡的筆彩，大部分是紅色，個別也使用了淡青、黃、綠色。輪廓線用亮紅色勾出，一部分也用了墨線。在伯希和收集品中有使用同樣描法和色彩的長幡（高303釐米，寬21釐米。參照伯希和圖錄《敦煌幡和繪畫》篇圖版204），那裏還描繪有空中飛翔彈奏樂器的五身飛天。然而，除了現在保留下來的九身外，此幡當初在題記下方還繪著其他幾身像。從現存部分的左側下端的狀態看（參照Fig.46），顯然其下還曾縫有其他絹，正像題記中所記述的，有意製作一件全長四十九尺的幡。下邊所續接的，有一部分得到了證實。圖33所載的二菩薩正中間，夾著阿難陀的像，他們被描在縱排的幡上（參照Fig.48），但Waley曾認爲，從長方形題箋中所記文字的書體，以及頭髮上塗淡青色的手法看，可以成爲此幡的連續部分。圖33的幡應連接圖32幡的左下，雖然幅寬稍窄，但其織邊上出現了與圖32的幡下端縫製的絹相同的特徵。下端繪男供養人像和兩個童子，當時，對面應該繪他的夫人和侍女。加了這些，全長也遠不到四十九尺，並且也見不到題記中所記述的供養人一族的身影。這裏使用的紅色顔料大概是紅土，暈色是土紅色，而明亮的輪廓線則用朱紅。在敦煌懸挂如此長的幡不成問題，可以懸挂在山崖上或者可以在第130窟這樣的8世紀大窟內，那裏安置著高有26米的阿彌陀像。