This Plate reproduces some side-scenes and small portions from the
fine but very fragmentary remains of a large silk painting (Ch.
00216) representing a Buddhist Heaven, probably that of Amitābha. The
colours of what is preserved are in remarkably fresh condition, and
this, together with the large scale of reproduction (four-sevenths),
facilitates close examination of interesting details.
Taking the side-scenes as shown in the left portion of the Plate we
may note first the fine floral border which separates the two at the
top from the main picture. Its vermilion ground is covered with rich
trailing bunches of flowers and leaves painted in a variety of vivid
colours. With their naturalistic style they closely recall the designs
which are displayed by plentiful embroidery remains I recovered from
the hoard of the ‘Thousand Buddhas’.[62] The outside border of the
whole is decorated with bold groups of entwined tendrils in orange-red
over dark brown, showing in their style a curious affinity to certain
of the cloud scrolls which appear on the fine textile remains of Han
times brought to light by me from ancient sites in the Lop Desert.[63]
The two side-scenes above form part of a series extending along the
left side of the picture and illustrating the ancient Buddhist legend
of Ajātaśatru, the wicked son of King Bimbisāra. Chinese inscriptions
accompany most of these scenes; but the upper one of those here
reproduced has lost its inscription and its identification is hence not
quite certain. It, however, appears to represent Ajātaśatru with his
sword drawn menacing Bimbisāra, who is attempting to draw his own. Both
are wearing flowing robes such as form elsewhere in our paintings the
costume of ministers. The scene seems laid below the stairs leading up
to the royal palace.
The scene below appears, according to the but partially legible
inscription, to represent Ajātaśatru after repentance entering the
Buddhist monkhood. What survives of the scene shows three men in plain
belted coats advancing to the left in front of a decorated and
streamered pavilion. This and the building behind display very clearly
characteristic features of Chinese architecture such as the tiled
roofs, the recurving roof-tree ends, the confronting bird heads on the
roof ridge, &c. On the right of the scene we see a subsidiary Buddha,
standing with a Bodhisattva by his side, as in the corresponding groups
of other Paradise paintings.[64]
The scenes below belong to a different series which extended along the
bottom of the picture. They show in the left corner the Death of the
Wicked. He lies stretched out on a couch placed in a verandah with his
wife watching him, while two shock-headed demons strangle him with
scarlet ropes. Below is seen on a cloud, as a vision, the boiling
cauldron into which his body is being flung by one of the ox-headed
gaolers of hell, who stands by carrying a trident-shaped pitchfork.
The adjoining scene depicts the Sickness of the Wicked. He sits up,
supported by a woman, on the bed laid within a porch or verandah.
In the foreground a younger woman with a lute and a man carrying a
leaf-shaped red object and stooping advance towards what seems a mat
with offerings laid on the ground. They are small black dishes with red
contents (burning incense?), clouds of white smoke drifting from some
of them.
The third scene of this series is incomplete and having lost its
inscription cannot be identified. It shows a man in purple coat and
tailed cap running to the back of the scene between a verandahed
structure and a shrine built of grey tiles, with his hands brandishing
a stick over his head. In front a man, similarly dressed and perhaps
meant to be the same person, is seen with bared arms and body violently
belabouring another, in purple coat and with the blue close-cropped
hair of a monk, who kneels on the ground and holds his hand to his head.
Of the fragments of the main picture reproduced on the right the upper
one shows us a group of musicians, seated on a small evidently carpeted
platform and facing towards a dancer (now lost) as usually seen in the
large Paradise pictures. Of the instruments played a psaltery, harp,
lute, and two flutes of different kinds are still recognizable. It is
of interest to note that the carpet with a Chinese floral pattern in
the centre combines a medallion border of unmistakably ‘Sassanian’
design.[65] The Bodhisattva figure on the left belongs to the group of
a standing subsidiary Buddha already mentioned.
The fragment reproduced below is from the top left corner of the
picture. There, against a deep blue sky sprinkled with gilded stars
and above the steeply curved indigo roof of a celestial mansion, we
see a flaming jewel on a lotus pedestal; white streamers flying from
a central pavilion; small drums floating in air to symbolize heavenly
music, and in the middle Samantabhadra seated on his white elephant and
attended by two Bodhisattvas. The drums, painted dark brown and tied
with red ribbons, are of interest on account of their different shapes.
Whether cylindrical or narrow-waisted, they have strings stretched
outside for the production of different notes by pressure under the
arm. One has also a projecting staff with cross-hammer.