The two pictures reproduced here both represent Avalokiteśvara and
are painted on paper; but their interest varies greatly in character.
The one on the right (Ch. i. 009, scale two-thirds of original) shows
the Bodhisattva sitting by the water on a bank under willows. This
representation of Avalokiteśvara is found only in one other picture of
our collection and claims special iconographic interest because, as
Mr. Binyon points out, according to Far-Eastern tradition ‘it was an
Emperor of the Sung period who first in a dream saw’ Avalokiteśvara as
he is here depicted ‘and commanded the dream to be painted; but, no
doubt, the subject is of earlier origin’.[47] We shall see below that
in the case of Kṣitigarbha, too, the evidence of the Ch‘ien-fo-tung
paintings proves a certain iconographic type to have developed earlier
than Japanese tradition would lead us to assume.
Avalokiteśvara, dressed and adorned in the style of an ‘Indian’
Bodhisattva, is seated with the right foot tucked under and the left
pendent, resting on an open lotus which rises from the water. His
right hand holds a willow branch and his left the usual emblem of
the flask. The whole figure is enclosed in a large circular halo
drawn in red outline. A group of conventional willow trees fills the
right segment of the halo and rises above it. On the opposite side
there appears above on a cloud the small-scale figure of a man in a
Chinese magistrate’s robes and head-dress, kneeling with hands joined
in adoration. Two boys wearing their hair in rolls behind the neck
stand at his back. A draped canopy extends across the upper end of
the picture. At its bottom, on the bank bordering the water, is shown
an altar. Flanking it on the right appears the donor, carrying a
censer and wearing the black coat and wide-brimmed hat characteristic
of tenth-century male costume. Four cartouches distributed over the
picture have remained uninscribed.
The drawing is careful and the execution superior notwithstanding the
simplicity of the colour scheme, restricted mainly to scarlet, light
blue, and pale green.
The picture reproduced on the left (Ch. 0054), on the scale of
three-fifths of the original, has some interesting peculiarities.
Above we see seated on a rectangular platform a Bodhisattva who from
the attendant divinities and the emblem, a tall vase, held by the one
to his right, may safely be assumed to represent Avalokiteśvara. His
dress, coiffure, and accessories are those of Bodhisattva figures
of the type above distinguished as ‘Chinese’. The decoration of the
platform, which, as the lions’ heads appearing in pairs below within
arched openings show, is meant for a _siṃhāsana_ or ‘lion’s throne’,
reproduces textile patterns manifestly influenced by ‘Sassanian’ models.
The presentation of only the left half of the god’s ‘Maṇḍala’ is an
unusual feature but accounted for by the narrow shape of the painting,
no doubt intended for a banner. It comprises below two Bodhisattvas
standing in adoration, next a pair of haloed monks, above them two
Lokapālas, and at the top a trident-carrying demon. One of the
Lokapālas is characterized by his jewelled mace as Virūḍhaka, Regent
of the South. To the right of the central deity and below the canopy
three infants are shown kneeling on a cloud and playing on flute,
mouth-organ, and clappers. Below them again and by the side of the
large halo stands a small Bodhisattva, also carried on a cloud and
clasping the tall vase already referred to. It is stoppered and mottled
blue and white, obviously in imitation of glazed ceramic ware.
The lower portion of the painting is filled by a procession moving to
the left and comprising a high Chinese dignitary in the centre and
his numerous retinue. In this central figure, who is attended by two
men holding crossed fans over his head and is obviously the donor, we
may in all probability recognize one of those local chiefs who, as
we know from Chinese historical notices and inscriptions, ruled the
region of Tun-huang in the ninth and tenth centuries as hereditary
governors under the suzerainty of the Emperors.[48] This personage,
over a trailing white under-robe, wears a black jacket ornamented with
symbols in yellow, of which the discs emblematic of the Sun and the
Moon, a pair of rampant dragons, and the Svastika can be made out quite
clearly. He alone appears as a worshipper, and an elaborate head-dress
of peculiar shape marks his high rank.
In his _cortège_ we see officials wearing white under-robes and black
jackets with various formal patterns of a stiff black head-dress. Three
among them carry long swords before them, pointed downwards, while
two hold rolls of paper. One of the latter, walking beside the chief,
is represented as a mere boy and may perhaps be a son. Two others in
somewhat different costume, including shirts of mail under shorter
jackets, walk a little apart. The two fan-bearers are attired in short
jackets and white trousers, and on the feet of the coarsely drawn
figure to the right we notice string sandals of exactly the same type
as attested by plentiful specimens among my finds from the Tun-huang
_Limes_.
There can be no doubt that the lower portion of the picture, with
its animated if rather rough drawing, represents a scene such as old
Tun-huang must have often witnessed on ceremonial occasions. It is
hence specially to be regretted that the absence of any dedicatory
inscription leaves us in ignorance of the date and the particular local
chief represented.