painting; 繪畫(Chinese) BM-1919-0101-0.17

Period:Tang dynasty Production date:701-850 (circa)
Materials:silk, 絲綢 (Chinese),
Technique:painted
Subjects:bird bodhisattva horse/ass sun/moon trident 鳥 (Chinese) 菩薩 (Chinese) 哺乳動物 (Chinese) 供養人 (Chinese) 日/月 (Chinese) 三叉戟 (Chinese)
Dimensions:Height: 79.30 centimetres Width: 62 centimetres

Description:
Painting of a Thousand-armed, thousand-eyed Avalokiteśvara. A number of the hands hold tridents and other Buddhist symbols, while many of the hands have an eye. The image of Avalokiteśvara nearly fills the picture space, leaving room only for small figures in the four corners: two bodhisattvas at the top, and two donors on the bottom. The artist has exchanged the vehicles usually associated with the Sun and Moon: here Candraprabha (Bodhisattva of the Moon, in the white disc) rides horses, and Sūryaprabha (Bodhisattva of the Sun, red disc) rides geese. Ink and colour on silk.
IMG


Comments:EnglishFrom Whitfield 1983:As in the preceding plate, the central figure almost entirely fills the picture space, leaving room only for the Bodhisattvas of the Sun (Pl. 6-3) and of the Moon (Pl. 6-2) above, and the two unidentified donors below. The compression necessary to bring the canopy and the lotus pool within the picture has already been noted by Stein(Serindia, vol. Ⅱ, p.1037).The arrangement of the Bodhisattvas of the Sun and Moon are a mirror-reversal of their positions in the very large painting of this subject (Vol. 1, Pl.18). In both cases it seems clear from the colour scheme that the artist intended them to appear on the same side as the sun and moon discs held as attributes by two of the forty principal hands. But in both paintings their vehicles have been exchanged: the Bodhisattva within the white disc (Pl.6-3) rides on the horses (properly belonging to Surya and the sun), while the Bodhisattva within the red disc rides on the geese (properly belonging to Candra) (Pl. 6-2). The painting on hemp (Fig. 55) shows the two Bodhisattvas on their correct vehicles and on the correct side with respect to the sun and moon discs held as attributes by the principal hands of the main deity.Throughout the painting, but especially in the central figure, the final outlining is of a very precise character, matched by the clarity of the blue and red colours in particular. The halo is bordered by a closely set band of cloud scrolls in blue, and blue features prominently in the hair and scarves of the Bodhisattva as well as in the attributes held in his forty hands. The slightly twisted scarf visible on the Bodhisattva’s right shoulder and here and there elsewhere was originally decorated with bright white opaque dots. These and the multi-coloured petals of the lotus, rising out of the pool on a swirling base of cloud, allow us to imagine the splendid colouring of the painting when it was first made.As Stein observed, the costumes of the donors (Figs. 5, 6) may be compared with that in the Sakyamuni paradise (Vol. 1, Pl. 11), and thus supports, along with the colouring and careful execution, the early ninth century as the latest possible date for, this painting. Traces where the border was once sewn on can be seen, especially down the left edge, but the border itself has not survived. ChineseFrom Whitfield 1983:與上圖相同，除了上方兩角有日天（參照圖6－3）和月天（參照圖6－2），下方兩角各一不明身份供養人外，畫面幾乎被中尊佔據。正如斯坦因指出的，華蓋和蓮池只有經過壓縮才能放進畫面。日天和月天的位置，與大畫面的千手千眼觀世音菩薩圖（第1卷圖18）中的左右位置相反。從圓相的配色看，顯然在這兩幅畫中，畫師都慾把最主要的四十隻手中的兩隻捧著日輪和月輪作爲象徵物的日天和月天均放在相同一側。而在此兩圖中，他們的坐騎卻互換了：紅色圓相中卻是騎著鵞鳥的月天，白色圓相中是騎著馬的日天。在本卷所收錄的麻繪千手千眼觀世音菩薩圖（參照Fig.55）中，顯示了日天和月天的正確的坐騎，他們也正確代表了主神的主要的四十隻手中的兩手捧的日輪和月輪。此畫將精致的線描做到了每個角落，尤其是配以清楚的青色和紅色的中尊的線描非常完美。頭光外緣部分整齊排列著很密的青色的雲卷紋，菩薩的頭髮、天衣，或主要的四十隻手所持的象徵物等，都使用同樣的青色。隱約可見右肩垂落的略帶皺褶的天衣上，原來裝飾有明亮的小白點。上述這些，以及蓮池中升起的旋渦狀雲彩上的蓮華座那多彩的蓮瓣顔色，都使人不難想象此畫最初製作時的華麗的色彩和畫面。正如斯坦因所說，供養人（參照Figs.5、6圖）的衣裳，可與《報恩經變相圖》（參照第1卷圖11）中供養人的作比對，以及從色彩的用法和精細的做工等看，此畫的年代不晚於9世紀初。有綴縫絹邊的痕迹—尤其左邊，但沒有残留的絹邊。