The large silk painting (Ch. xxviii. 006) reproduced in this Plate
on the much-reduced scale of one-sixth is a fine illustration of
that intermingling of art influences for which Tun-huang provided
a classical meeting-place. It shows Avalokiteśvara with a thousand
arms seated within a central disc, and outside this some attendant
divinities symmetrically grouped. The scheme is thus closely akin to
that of the Avalokiteśvara ‘Maṇḍala’ seen in Plate XVII and fully
discussed above. But the number of divinities is much smaller and the
composition in general less elaborate, though there is abundance of
ornament in the details. The painting is complete except along its
bottom, and its colours are remarkably fresh. The rich painted border
of flower sprays which encloses the whole suggests the effect of
naturalistic embroidery such as is found among the textile relics from
the Thousand Buddhas.[89]
Avalokiteśvara’s figure single-headed appears here too, seated within
a large circular halo formed by his ‘thousand arms’, each showing the
symbolic open eye on the palm. Against this background are numerous
inner arms, all except four in the centre line of the figure carrying
a multiplicity of sacred emblems well known to Buddhist iconography,
such as the discs of the Sun and Moon, trident, Vajra, &c. Owing to
the excellent finish, the details of all these, as well as of the rich
ornaments which deck the Bodhisattva’s body and head, can be made out
clearly. In front of the high tiara appears the figure of Amitābha, his
Dhyāni-buddha. The Bodhisattva’s flesh is shown dull yellow shaded with
pink.
The nimbus is made up of a superimposed series of pointed rays
brilliantly coloured. It is flame-edged like the border of the
circular halo behind. The variegated petals of the lotus seat have
also brilliant colours; gilding is used for their outlines as well as
for all jewellery, the vessels on the altar in front, and the folds of
Avalokiteśvara’s robes.
The background is divided into an upper and lower half. The upper,
painted a thin light blue (now almost gone) and representing the sky,
is sprinkled with small gilded stars and falling blossoms. In its top
corners, to the right and left respectively, are shown the Bodhisattvas
of the Sun and the Moon seated on their respective ‘Vāhanas’ of horses
and geese, within red and white discs which piled-up clouds carry.
Against the lower half of the background, painted a deep blue and
representing a tiled floor, are the haloed figures of the ‘Sage’ and
the ‘Nymph of Virtue’, kneeling on lotuses to the right and left
respectively. The former, an emaciated old man of ascetic type, yet
wearing rich apparel, raises his right hand in salutation, and the
‘Nymph’ carries her dish of flowers, as also in Plate XVII. In the tank
below we see again two armour-clad Nāgas holding up Avalokiteśvara’s
disc. In front of the tank is an altar decked with draperies of
exquisitely rendered floral designs and carrying gilt sacrificial
vessels.
In the bottom corners stride in violent movement many-armed demonic
Vajrapāṇis in red and blue against a vividly painted background of
flames. With their fiery hair and grotesque features, and by the
Tantric emblems they brandish in their hands, they show closest kinship
to the monstrous divinities of Tantric origin in which the imagery of
Tibetan Buddhism delights. Below them there kneel in adoration two
small figures, one with an elephant’s head on the left and another with
that of a rat on the right. In these we may, perhaps, recognize Gaṇeśa,
familiar to Hindu mythology, and the ‘king of the sacred rats famous in
Khotan local worship.[90]
In these figures and in a variety of other details to which Mr. Binyon
has very justly called attention,[91] we have striking indications
of that mixed style of painting to which Indian prototypes, Iranian
and Central-Asian influences, and Tibetan taste have all contributed
elements, albeit in very disparate proportions. Yet it does not
need the Chinese inscriptions, found in a few of the cartouches and
containing epithets of the respective divinities, to convince us that
we owe this highly finished painting to Chinese workmanship. This
has left its marks clearly in a mass of exquisite detail and in that
perfectly mastered technique which accounts for the strong decorative
effect of the whole.