painting; 繪畫(Chinese) BM-1919-0101-0.130

Period:Tang dynasty Production date:9thC
Materials:silk, 絲綢 (Chinese),
Technique:painted
Subjects:bodhisattva lotus 菩薩 (Chinese) 蓮花 (Chinese)
Dimensions:Height: 46 centimetres Width: 18 centimetres

Description:
Painting of Avalokiteśvara standing on lotus flowers. Ink and colour on silk.
IMG


Comments:EnglishFrom Whitfield 1982:At first glance this painting appears to have much in common with the last (Pl. 50). Waley’s comment was: “This is one of the few paintings in the collection which seems to be the product of an artist, not a mere workman. The colouring is particularly successful.” We can indeed see how the colour shading and highlighting is accurately and carefully applied, and highlighting is accurately and carefully applied, and features such as the eyebrows were originally green within their sharp ink outlines. The hair is done in long blue strokes framing the shoulders on either side and reinforced by ink lines closer to the neck. The hands, initially drawn in ink, are outlined in red and also have colour shading and highlighting. Rich dark blue is used for the edges of the stole and the lower border of the dhoti, whose end falls in distinctive curves to below the feet. The legs marked by the symmetrical curves of the robe, are straight, and the feet large, as in Pls. 46-48, but by no means clumsy or ill-proportioned. I hesitate to venture a possible date for the painting: the high quality invites an early date, but the smooth ellipse of the face and the matching curves of the torso point to the mid-ninth century. ChineseFrom Whitfield 1982:乍一看，此畫有許多與上一圖觀世音菩薩像相同的要素。據Waley講，“這是斯坦因搜集的敦煌畫中不單是工匠，而是由正式的畫家製作出來的極少數作品之一。其色彩非常出色。”事實上，如果細細觀察則發現，對色澤的明暗或高光的使用精確而仔細，尖尖的眉毛的墨綫輪廓線間加了綠色。頭髮是青色，沿著兩肩長長垂下，脖頸附近加了墨線以突出力度。而手是先用墨作底線，賦彩後再用紅色勾勒，並加入色暈和高光。天衣和腰布下端的邊緣使用藏藍色，腰布的底端描出獨特曲線，下垂至腳間。兩腿上，裳的褶子左右對稱，和彩色圖版第46～48圖的諸像一樣，儘管腿線筆直兩腳巨大，但完全察覺不出粗笨或者比例不當。判定此畫的年代稍有困難，良好的質量顯示出它可能年代較早，但卵形的臉和均衡的上半身曲線等，符合9世紀中葉作品的特點。