painting; 繪畫(Chinese) BM-1919-0101-0.141

Period:Tang dynasty Production date:9thC
Materials:silk, 絲綢 (Chinese),
Technique:painted
Subjects:bodhisattva mammal lotus 菩薩 (Chinese) 哺乳動物 (Chinese) 隨侍 (Chinese) 蓮花 (Chinese) attendant
Dimensions:Height: 66 centimetres Width: 24.80 centimetres

Description:
Painting of bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, seated on a lotus, riding a lion with multi-coloured mane, accompanied by a dark-skinned attendant. Blank cartouche at top left. Ink and colour on silk.
IMG


Comments:EnglishFrom Whitfield 1982:As Arthur Waley wrote in his Catalogue (p. 153), this painting is “completely Indian in style”, so much so that he both suggested that the origin of the karashishi, or “Chinese lion”, should be sought in India rather than China, and also looked for a possible Indian alternative to Mañjusrī as the Bodhisattva. Comparison, however, with another banner in the Pelliot collection shows how intimately the Chinese and Indian modes were connected at Dunhuang in the ninth century. The banner in question shows Manjusri riding on a lion (Bannières, No.126). The lion is portrayed in very similar fashion in both paintings, the main difference being that in the Pelliot painting he does not have an attendant and his mane is green only and not of several colours. It is the Bodhisattva figures alone who present a total contrast, the one in Paris being Chinese in type, with a rather heavy figure largely concealed by ample draperies, as opposed to the almost sultry Bodhisattva with diaphanous purple garments and abundant jewelry of the Stein painting.These similarities and differences confirm what we have already seen in paintings such as Pl.16, namely that Indian and Chinese modes of depiction, particularly for figures such as those of the Bodhisattvas, flourished side by side at Dunhuang and may even have been executed by the same painters, following different models. ChineseFrom Whitfield 1982: 如Waley在《敦煌畫目錄》（153頁）中所述，“該繪畫風格完全是印度式”，由於此種印象太突出，他把本是唐獅子的起源追溯到印度。但是，比較伯希和收集品中所藏的幡，則很清楚地看到，9世紀的敦煌，是中國和印度兩種風格緊密結合的。用於比較的幡，描繪的是乘獅子的文殊（參照伯希和圖錄《敦煌的幡和繪畫》篇圖版126），其中獅子的姿態與本圖非常相似，但也有一些不同之處，比如沒有陪伴隨從，鬃毛只是綠色而不是多彩的。菩薩像本身形成了鮮明的對比，伯希和收集品的像是中國式的，全身幾乎被肥大的衣服包裹，感覺很穩重。與此相比，本圖的像是全身散滿寶石的裝飾品，著網狀薄透的紫色袴和天衣，確實很有肉感。 這些類似點和不同處，如在已述的圖16的《藥師淨土圖》中所見的那樣，可以確認在敦煌，特別是對菩薩像等的表現上，印度式和中國式手法的使用是同樣盛行的,甚至存在一個作家使用不同的模本，畫兩種方式的可能性。