Of the pictures reproduced in this Plate (all on the scale of
three-fifths) the two on the sides bear Tibetan inscriptions and
thereby prove themselves as produced and deposited after the Tibetan
conquest of Tun-huang. But there is nothing essential to distinguish
their style from that of other of our paintings in which hieratic
figures are represented with close adherence to traditional treatment
derived from India.
The paper painting on the left (Ch. 00377) shows a Bodhisattva of the
type above designated as ‘Indian’ seated on a yellow lotus, with legs
all but crossed and the right hand raised in the _vitarka-mudrā_. The
Tibetan inscription kindly read by Dr. Barnett[68] describes him as the
‘Lord of the upper region’, and as the Indian cosmic system places the
Sun and Moon in this ‘upper region’, the discs above the Bodhisattva,
with the emblem of the Sun god on the right and that of the Moon god
(now effaced) on the left, are fully accounted for.
The Bodhisattva’s face bears a somewhat ferocious aspect; his flesh
is faintly coloured with pink. His garments are touched with pink,
crimson, and olive green, while the jewellery is left uncoloured.
The black hair is tied into a high topknot and descends in stylized
ringlets on the shoulders. The oval nimbus and vesica are both edged
with flames.
The paper painting (Ch. 00376) on the right, which belongs to the
same series, is a more pleasing production. According to the Tibetan
inscription below the haloed figure represents Kālika, a disciple of
Śākyamuni and the fourth of the Great Apostles. He is seated on a mat,
cross-legged and wrapped in a red and buff mantle lined with olive
green. The right hand carries the mendicant’s bowl; the head is shaven.
The monk’s features are full of character and drawn with much decision.
On the right is stuck the beggar’s staff, with a bracket from which
hangs his wallet.
Superior to these paintings in design and workmanship is the drawing on
paper (Ch. 00145) reproduced in the middle. It shows a monk seated on
a mat in meditation. His shaven head, with large, somewhat straight,
features, bears an expression of firmness and concentration admirably
rendered with a few fluent lines. Neither eyes nor nose and mouth bear
a Chinese look. And yet the whole drawing clearly bears the impress of
a Chinese artist’s brush.
The monk wears an ample mantle, and below it an under-robe with
conventional cross bars marking the mendicant’s patched garb. In front
are deposited his shoes, behind to the left is placed a high stoppered
vase, while on a thorn-tree to the right are hung his rosary and
wallet. The drawing of the tree is unmistakably Chinese in character,
and the whole disposition of the little picture illustrates the mastery
of spacing inherent in Chinese artistic feeling. For once we are taken
away from the sphere of hieratic conventions and brought into touch
with life as the eyes of the artist, or those of an earlier master, saw
it.