Cave No. 285, Western Wei
Cave No. 285, Western Wei
Cave No. 285, Western Wei
Cave No. 285, Western Wei
Cave No. 285, Western Wei
Paintings of Chinese traditional mythological themes are drawn on the ceiling of Cave Nos. 249 and 285. The centre of the ceiling is in the form of an inverted dipper. Painted on the top of the four slopes are celestial clouds symbolizing Heaven, while the lower portions are painted with mountains, forests, wild animals, symbolizing earth. Thus a canvas of spatial expanse is created. On the southern slope of Cave No. 249 is painted a chariot drawn by three phoenixes. In the chariot is seated a goddess with a top knot, wearing a loose-sleeved long gown with the carriage driver holding the reins, standing beside her. This is goddess Xiwangmu. On the northern slope is painted a chariot drawn by four dragons. Seated in the chariot is a god, wearing a high crown and a loose-sleeved long gown, also accompanied by a coach driver holding the reins. This is god Dongwanggong. Both chariots have double-layered canopies with a pilot riding either on a dragon or on a phoenix carrying a flag in hand. Winged fish escort the chariots followed by the human-headed and dragon-bodied "Kaiming"* and other celestial animals in the rear, making an impressive entourage.
On the east slope of Cave No. 285 are painted Fuxi and Nuwa facing each other, both with a human head and snake body. Their hair is tied up and they wear cross-collared, large-sleeved short dresses. On their chests are drawn a sun and a moon respectively. They both have a scarf draped on their shoulders. In one hand Fuxi holds a square and in the other he holds the carpenter's inkmark. Nuwa holds a pair of dividers in her raised hands. Her sleeves flutter in the wind as she moves briskly. Besides the two, there are a number of celestial animals like "Xuanwu" which is a couple of tortoise and snake, the "white tiger" (baihu ) galloping with its head held high, and the "red bird" (zhuque ) flapping its wings. These in addition to "blue dragon" (qinglong ) are the Chinese guardian angels of the four directions. There is the Thunder God (Leigong ) gyrating to his drumbeat, the Lightning God (Pidian ) wielding his anvil, and a Feilian with the head of a deer and wings on its back and the bird-taloned Rain God (Yushi ) spurting clouds and mist from his mouth. These are "nature gods" of ancient Chinese mythology. In addition, there are "yuqiang" with a human head and a bird's body, "wuhuo" with an animal head and human body, and "yuren" with vertical ears and feathered arms, flying together with the celestial cranes amidst the coloured clouds.
On the lower rim skirting the ceiling slopes is painted a mountainous landscape in which we see all kinds of wild animals: a galloping wild bull, a yellow goat drinking water, a howling white bear, a wild bear with its young one, a climbing monkey, a frightened deer, a hungry tiger, and a horse tethered to the tree, in addition to human activities of tiger-shooting, sheep-chasing, sheep and boar-slaughtering, bull-hunting, etc. This genre of painting was referred to long ago by Qu Yuan (389?-278? B.C.) in his poem "Tianwen" (Dialogue with Heaven) as the symbols of universe. Wang Yi said that Qu Yuan's "Tianwen" was inspired by the murals in the temples and ancestral halls which showed "Heaven and earth, mountains, rivers, springs, sages, saints and goblins and their activities". Wang Yanshou's poem on the Lingguang palace of Shandong alluded to a similar representation:
Heaven and Earth are seen
In the palace mural paintings.
Innumerable living beings
With various species in between.
Feasting one's eyes on the ordinary
Plus things extraordinary,
Mountain deity on territory
And ocean spirits for company...
Tracing even to primitive times
Flying dragons in five lines,
Fuxi dancing with shining scales
And Nuwa's snake waist and tail.
These paintings have been destroyed along with the ancient buildings which had housed them. However, many vivid legendary images/dunhuang have come to light from ancient graves such as the exotic animals on the silk paintings unearthed from the Han grave No. 1 at Mawangdui, in Changsha; Fuxi and Nuwa in the mural painting in Pu Qianqiu's graveyard in Luoyang; reliefs of god Dongwanggong and goddess Xiwangmu in the Han brick designs and stone carvings; the figures of the four gods and that of Fuxi and Nuwa in the murals in the tombs of Wei and Jin which were recently unearthed in the Hexi region. Particularly in the case of the tomb murals of the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms which have been discovered at Dingjiazha at Jiuquan in recent years, the ceilings are shaped like an inverted dipper and in the centre are caissons with open-petalled lotus designs. Dongwanggong and Xiwangmu are painted on the east and west slopes of the ceiling, while the north and west slopes of the ceiling are painted with celestial animals and yuren (winged angels). In the lower part of the ceiling is a rim covered by paintings of landscape and wild animals. The construction of the tomb chambers and the layout and the contents of the murals closely resemble those of the ceilings in Cave Nos. 249 and 285 in Dunhuang. The discovery is a convincing proof that the traditional mythological paintings of Dunhuang murals are closely related to the tomb murals in neighbouring areas.
Such traditional mythological paintings extending from the ancestral halls and palaces into the tomb chambers have already lost their original mythological significance and merely represent the celestial beings guarding the peace and tranquillity of the dead, or leading the dead to ascend Heaven. In Cave No. 290 in the painting of the life story of Buddha, the figures of celestial ushers riding the phoenix and holding a staff are painted on the carriage of the coffin. Such celestial ushers are painted in large numbers in Cave Nos. 249 and 285. Here we have an instance of "Sino-Western synthesis" --- of local mythological themes merging with Buddhist stories in the Dunhuang murals. On the west slope of Cave No. 249 is a bare-bodied four-eyed Asura holding the sun and moon in his hands. Behind him is the lofty Mount Sumeru. On its peak is a "celestial city" with imposing walls and a half-opened gate. This is the 'Trayastrimsa Devapura' of Buddhism. The Saddharma-Pu¸·ar¢ka-S£tra says that if a person copies Buddhist scriptures with pious dedication he is reborn in the Heaven of Trayastrimsa. The Buddhist "devapura" taking the place of the Taoist "celestial jade palace" at Dunhuang was a parallel development of the gathering in the Tomb chambers during the Southern Dynasties of the traditional Chinese guardian angels, "winged angel riding the dragon", "winged angel playing with the tiger" along with the Buddhist flying figures, celestial musicians, lotuses, etc., synthesizing the Taoist "ascending to Heaven after becoming a winged immortal" with the Buddhist "Sukh¡vat¢ of Heavenly bliss". This truly reflects China's "nationalization" merging with Taoist and Confucian ideologies during the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties.
Chessboard design from the ceiling, Cave No. 268, Northern Liang,
Cave No. 249, Western Wei
Male Donors, Cave No. 288, Western Wei
These comprise chiefly the chessboard designs and the caisson both of which were ceiling decorations in ancient Chinese architecture. Cave No. 268 is adorned by clay-moulded chessboard designs identical to the chessboard designs on stone carvings of Han tombs unearthed from Yi'nan county in Shandong. Both these designs trace their origin to early wooden structures. Caisson was originally the decorative courtyard design in the ancient Chinese palace architecture. The name "zaojing" (caisson) is derived from the combination of crossbeams forming a jing (well-like pattern) and the zao (colourful) designs painted on the wooden beams. A "zaojing" may be described as "the ceiling of a mansion with either a round fountain or square well-pattern with lotus decoration". Cave No. 272 is the first among the Mogao Grottoes to have an ornamental caisson. Whether it is a chessboard pattern or caisson, there is the design of a suspended lotus from the centre of the square. This is the "inverted lotus" pattern in architecture.
During the last days of Northern Wei, caisson was transformed into a canopy, the umbrella of the emperors, dukes and courtiers. Buddhism in China was influenced by feudal style and content. As early as the Han Dynasty it was already in vogue to "use the canopy to pay homage to Buddha and Laozi". The ornamental ceiling in Cave No. 285 is a typical canopy in Han style. Besides the suspended lotus in the centre, the boundary rim is decorated with designs of the lonicera plant, cloud, flame, coloured bell and hanging curtain. Suspended from the four corners are decorations of animal faces, pendant jade, tassels and bird feathers, virtually an illustration of the line "Lofty canopy adorned with leaves, jade and feather" in the famous poem "Dongjingfu" (Rhyming on the Eastern Capital). This is the first innovation at Mogao in decorative art which conforms to Chinese tradition.
Besides the caisson ceiling and the chessboard design, there are also the decorative niche lintels and borders and designs in between the rafters. Although the patterns may vary, the lines are the same. The lines are mainly made up of drawings of lotus, lonicera, cloud, flame, meteoroids, chessboard, birds and animals, supernatural beings and flying figures, etc. The lotus is an ancient decorative design of China. During the Spring and Autumn period, we find the blossoming lotus design engraved on bronze kettles with lotus and crane designs. Han tomb murals have been adorned with lotus designs on the caisson. This proves that the lotus had been extensively used in China even before the advent of Buddhist art. Buddhism has also used the lotus as the symbol of Sukhavati. Therefore the development of Buddhist art gave an additional impetus to the lotus designs, enriching both their composition and colouring. At Dunhuang, the lotus becomes an indispensable element of design during all the dynasties.
The lonicera design is a variation of the plant. The earliest lonicera design is seen in the tomb mural paintings in Pu Qianqiu's grave in Luoyang, where it is drawn amid the clouds. The screens excavated from the graves of the Eastern Han Dynasty at Wuwei are also adorned with the lonicera design which has also been embroidered on the silk fabrics excavated from the graves of Eastern Han at Minfeng. From the time of the Western and Eastern Jin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the lonicera became one of the main decorative designs in the Buddhist caves. The early caves of Dunhuang were virtually the domain of lonicera designs, a phenomenon which lasted from the Sixteen Kingdoms until the early Tang when it was gradually replaced by new designs. By skilfully moderating the aesthetic laws of repetition, continuity, symmetry, balance and unity in variety, and combining dynamism with tranquillity, the ancient craftsmen manipulated the three blades of lonicera leaves into a variety of border decorations: undulated, circular, square, rhombus, heart-shape and turtle-back shape, into creeping and tendrilled vines and into the floral background for creating space for representations of pigeons, parrots, peacocks and ostriches. The lonicera is even interwoven with lotus to form free patterns and to become the backdrop for the celestial musicians. In brief, the use of the lonicera shows a simple theme being made up to a rich and colourful picture, giving play to the Chinese mastery of highlighting primary objects, with exquisite characterization, clever variations and lucid colouring. The effect is one of sobriety and earnestness, greatly enriching the contents and forms of China's decorative art.
Horse trainer, Cave No. 290, Northern Zhou
The portrayal of the donors falls into the genre of human portraits. In the early caves such portraits do not assume much importance; in general they are painted below the main themes and arranged in a row numbering more than ten at a minimum, and several hundreds or even a thousand at the most. Cave No. 428 of Northern Zhou is crowded with the portraits of twelve hundred donors, each portrait has an inscription on the side informing us of the donors' native places.
The portraits of the donors are the portrayal of historical personalities and are also the record of religious philanthropy. The large number of such portrayals with several tens, even a hundred figures painted at one
time made it necessary to bank on stereotypes, mainly to distinguish the nationality, social status and religious devotion of these donors. Although all the portraits are accompanied by the inscription of their names, they do not reflect the actual features of the persons concerned. This is rather the tendency of a "thousand portraits with the same face".
Among the donors of the early period there are a large number of monks whose portraits enshrine the caves. There are also quite a few portraits of aristocratic families and their retinue of servants and slaves. We also see many portraits of other nationalities.
In a row of donors, the portraits of monks are always painted at the head. This was probably due to the importance of religious life at that time. The portraits of aristocrats are placed prominently accompanied by the portraits of servants and slaves. Cave No. 288 has two portraits of donors. The male donor wears a high crown and a long gown with loose sleeves, with a rounded collar and a white linen jacket and a knee-length garment around the waist. He wears raised-tip wooden high-heel shoes, and his long gown spreads to the floor. Behind him are pages and servants holding his things while attendants lifting screen fans and an umbrella. All the slaves and servants wear shirts and trousers. The female donor has her hair coiled into a top knot. She is wearing loose-sleeved shirt and a long multi-coloured skirt. In front of her is a maid carrying fresh flowers. Behind her is another maid carrying a screen fan to shield her from sun and wind. Although the names in the inscriptions have already disappeared we can still establish their high aristocratic ranking from their attire and the size of their retinue.
Cave No. 285 shows several portraits of foreign nationalities wearing felt hats, shirts and trousers, with a leather belt girding their waists on which are hung daily implements like waterpot, rope, flint stone, knife and so on. Some have a short queue hanging at the back of their head. The inscriptions have revealed foreign names like "Huheinu", "Yin'an'gui", "Shichongji", etc. A large number are of the Xianbei nationality, with tiny figures and interesting expressions.
Cave No. 196, Northern Zhou
Worth noticing is a foreign horse trainer in Cave No. 290. He has sharp nose and big eyes and is wearing a white felt hat and a tight-sleeved shirt and wears long boots. He holds the reins in one hand and the whip in another. His eyes focus on the red horse which is yet to be trained. The horse retreats with timidity in front of this experienced trainer; it is the artist's intention to illustrate the foreign horseman's determination and courage.
During Northern Zhou, the portraits of donors were more richly depicted. In Cave No. 297, there is a scene of music and dance in the bower. Among the musical instruments are the lute, harp and flute. Two female dancers are seen in action swinging their waists and waving their hands, jumping and turning to and fro. It can be seen from the musical instruments as well as the dance postures that the music was in foreign tunes and the dance was in a foreign style prevalent in Hexi region in those days. These musicians and dancers were not the donors but they carried the "offerings" of the donors to Buddha.
The portraits of donors are not merely works of art but also source of important historical data. The inscriptions provide a large number of historical clues. The attires shown in painting were the real costumes of historical personalities, thus they are an important source of information for the study of historical costumes, as it is said: "Commoners of the past have never been lost."35
Although the cave art of Dunhuang germinated from an imported seed, its growth was on Chinese soil, having been nursed by the rain and sunshine of the traditional culture of China, and blossoming into magnificent flowers. It imbibed distinct and unmistakable Chinese characteristics from its birth.
First, it maintains the excellent Chinese art tradition of creating figures with lines or contours. Line drawing possesses a high degree of highlighting ability. Authentic and lively human figures with characterization are the products of vigorous and experienced ink strokes.
The line drawings of the early murals grew from the paintings of Han and Jin. The contours are drawn by thick and powerful lines and earth-red colouring is done only after the head, body and the limbs are outlined. A final touch is added by a black ink finish. As the murals in the caves are meant to be on permanent view for the devotees and to even draw the viewers through the medium of art to believe in the teachings of Buddha, they are executed with greater care and effort than the murals in the tombs. Therefore, after colouring, the artist caps his creations by a round of execution of final lines to reveal the physique as well as the mental outlook of the figures.
Line drawing in the murals of early period is like a "spring silkworm spinning its silk fibre", elegant, forceful and rounded, appropriate for drawing calm, tender and affectionate characters. Line drawings in Cave Nos. 272 and 263 are typical examples revealing a mastery of skills which has nearly attained the degree of "highest purity". In the last years of the Northern Dynasties the mural paintings have acquired a dynamic element; correspondingly, line drawing also gets innovated. Strokes are now executed with increased pressure and speed. Winding long lines with a definite direction are drawn with such rapidity so as to resemble "the sweeping gale and flashing lightning". Zhang Huaiguan's comment on the painting of Lu Tanwei aptly describes this process: "The master employs magic and deftness. His brush moves with vigour as if it is the tip of a knife."36 After Lu Tanwei's school of "elegant bones and handsome looks" was introduced to Dunhuang, the line drawing at Mogao acquired a great vigour and freedom and was enriched with the rhythm of dynamism.
Cave No. 285, Western Wei
Cave No. 249, Western Wei
Characterization by means of line drawing is the realization of the aesthetic concept of "illustrating the spirit by means of form". There are two kinds of characterization of the early Dunhuang arts. One kind includes the deities with a large imaginative component shrouded in religious mystery. The other which comprises the human beings of the mundane world is more realistic and full of life.
Characterization in the Mogao paintings pays close attention to the figures. Status is in-built in a figure be it that of a deity or of a human being. The characterization of Buddha adheres strictly to the scriptures, with a frontal view, solemn and sacred, and textbook mudr¡s and sitting postures. Bodhisattvas are generally shown in profile with variations in elegant and handsome postures. The majority of foreigners are shown in profile, probably because of their mean social status and also because it is easy to highlight their high noses and deep set eyes.
Attention is also paid to the proportions and positions of the human body. Changes occur frequently in the proportions of the portraits of the early period: that between head and body moves from the ratio of 1:4 to 1:6 and 1:7. As a result, the Bodhisattva's figure becomes slimmer and more beautiful. The dancing postures of the flying figures appear to be increasingly enchanting. The exaggeration of proportions of the body reaches its peak during Western Wei. The fingers and toes of Bodhisattvas are made particularly beautiful with elongated finger joints and graceful hand gestures much beyond physiological reality. The principles of "exaggeration in restraint" and "ornamentation without falsehood" influence these changes and therefore aesthetic beauty is only reinforced. The Bodhisattva by the side of the altar of Cave No. 249 has a head-body proportion of 1:7, with lithe limbs and a shy expression: the total effect is one of warmth, tenderness and enchantment. The characterization in the illustration of the "Deer J¡taka" in Cave No. 257 shows the deer with a curved neck, long slender body with its legs suggesting abundant vigour, again in excess of the actual physiology. Yet the style conformed with the scientific laws of aesthetic exaggeration and imagination, as a result we feel that the quick-footed white and green horses with their elegant character have come alive and emerged out of the flat surface of characterization of deities. In his chapter on "Shensi" (Imagination) in Wenxin Diaolong (Carving out a dragon from the literary heart), Liu Xie said that "Freezing one's mind in tranquillity, one's thought can connect a thousand years; moving one's face in silence, one's vision can travel ten thousand miles." This is describing the workings of the imagination, what Gu Kaizhi described as "transposition". "By transposition one attains sophistication" was the essence of Gu Kaizhi's aesthetic concept. This idea is embodied in the art of Dunhuang in the early period, resulting in the creation of supernatural images/dunhuang. On the ceiling of Cave Nos. 249 and 285, we see a kaiming which is a dragon with nine human heads, and Fuxi and Nuwa, the human figures with snake-bodies, with sun and moon on their chests; the Thunder God which has a beast head, a human body and bird's claws spinning with the drum; the yuqiang which has a human head and a bird's body, all moving in cosmic space. Such mythological creatures are all the products of "imagination" and "imagination in aid of the pursuit of conquering, dominating and transforming nature into images/dunhuang".37 Among the murals of Dunhuang, the peak of crystallization of the imagination was the flying figures. The early flying figures do not have wings, nor do they ascend the clouds. They rely on the movements of two scarves to create the feeling of
Let each feather exert and let me fly
To reach the celestial palace over the clouds.38
The flying figures are an all-out beautification of the angels: the gods bring happiness to men by playing music, spraying them with fragrance and showering petals.
However, in the treatment of another category of figures, like Mara's daughters and fighters in the illustration of "M¡ra Vijaya", the Mogao artists have shown them as figures with the heads of beasts with red eyebrows and green eyes, with abdomen as head, breasts as eyes, the navel as a mouth. They have been transformed into skeletons, spitting fire, and in grotesque shapes, looking both ugly and ferocious. These are instances of extreme distortions of the negative characters in Buddhism, to bring out the contrast between good and evil. As has been well said by the literary critic, Wang Chong, "When you want to praise a person, you cannot make him happy if you do not use superlatives for good; when you want to vilify a person, you cannot make others hate him if you do not play up his wickedness."39 The early art of Dunhuang made full use of this aesthetic theory.
