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251 - 275 of 1981 Records
Northern Xiangtangshan, South Cave, east wall, south side
- Title Translation: 北响堂山南洞 , 东壁、南侧
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: The South Cave at Northern Xiangtangshan, like the Middle Cave, preserves its original stupa-form with domed roof and a porch in front. An additional small cave is carved into the dome. The main chamber is an open chamber space with images set around three walls. Each altar has a central Buddha surrounded by six standing figures including bodhisattvas, disciples and pratyekabuddhas. Smaller Buddhas appear in rows on the upper level of the cave. On the ceiling a large lotus blossom is carved in relief. The work on the cave appears to have been begun, then interrupted, and resumed later by different craftsmen. The main sculpted images show signs of having been created in two stages, with the later mode of carving evident in the group of images on the back wall. The stylistic difference is also evident in the appearance of the heads of figures taken from the cave and now located in museums and private collections outside China. In addition to its sculptural art, the South Cave is very important for its extensive engravings of Buddhist scriptures in stone. These are located inside the cave on the entrance wall, inside the porch, on the exterior wall of the porch, and extending onto the north wall of the courtyard. At the end of the sutra texts, the dedicatory stele of Tang Yong records that the engravings were carried out in the years from 568-572.
550 - 577
Disciple Hands
- Title Translation: 弟子手
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: The Xiangtangshan Caves located in the Fengfeng Mining District in Handan, Hebei Province, are clustered in two groups: Northern and Southern Xiangtangshan. They represent the finest of grotto art produced in the Northern Qi dynasty (550-577 CE). This pair of limestone hands originally belonged to the Middle Cave at Northern Xiangtangshan, constructed during the reign of Emperor Wenxuan (550-559) of the Northern Qi dynasty. The cave is a huge central-pillared cave with a corridor in front of a main chamber, the second largest of all caves at Xiangtangshan. Old pictures have shown that this fragmented piece originally belonged to the left acolyte disciple of a grouping featuring Śākyamuni Buddha flanked by two Bodhisattvas and two disciples in the large niche at the front of the central pillar. This disciple’s lean and rather aged face suggests that he is Mahākāśyapa, one of the ten principal disciples of Śākyamuni. He was deemed the foremost in ascetic dhūta practice. Before the Buddha passed away, he entrusted Mahākāśyapa with the task of imparting the Buddhist Dharma. After the Buddha entered parinirvāṇa, Mahākāśyapa became the head of the monastic community and convened the First Council at Rājagṛha for compiling Buddhist canon. Thereafter, he continued to lead the monastic community for more than two decades. Although fragmented, this work is amazingly realistic. The left hand with palm up is holding a reliquary, while the fingers of the right hand are pressing against the lid. Both hands are soft and fleshy, as if boneless. The fingers are nimble, and the curvature of each finger differs. It is worth noting that the carver did not illustrate the knuckles, but rather, greatly emphasising the softness and texture of the hands. The fingernails are also finely represented. The hands look fleshy but not chubby; the gesture natural and lively. Overall, the carver’s superb artistry is well demonstrated.
550 - 577
Bodhisattva Head, 3D model
- Title Translation: 菩萨头 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Monster Squatting, 3D model
- Title Translation: 蹲鬼神 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Musician Sheng, 3D model
- Title Translation: 笙乐伎 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: Simply rounded forms chiseled from gray limestone create this engaging relief of a celestial musician, known as an apsaras in Sanskrit or tianjen in Chinese, depicted playing the sheng. This instrument is a mouth organ consisting of a number of bamboo pipes of different lengths, a pipe for blowing in air, and fingering keyholes.1 The musician gently holds the sheng in both hands, and his closed eyes and beatific expression convey a sense of rapture in its heavenly sounds. Apsarases, usually represented as females, are flying celestials, often musicians or dancers, hovering in attendance to Buddhas and bodhisattvas in paradise scenes. Paradise cults offered Buddhist believers salvation in the form of rebirth into a paradise where attainment of nirvana was easy and certain. The available evidence from the mid-sixth century and later, such as the large relief depicting the Paradise of Amitabha now in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., as well as a number of votive stelae, indicate the rising influence of paradise cults in China at this time.2 By the mid-sixth century, more ascetic ethereal forms with complex cascades of drapery and scarves had shifted to the rounded, more expansive forms defined by closer fitting and simpler garments, as in this example. Xiangtangshan, one of the important early Buddhist cave temple complexes in northern China, which was opened in the mid-sixth century, preserves excellent examples of these later stylistic features. The Xiangtangshan cave temples are believed to have been established by two Northern Qi emperors, both great devotees of the Buddhist religion. These caves temples lie across the frontier of two provinces: the northern group of caves is in Wuan prefecture, Henan province, and the southern group in Zixian prefecture, Hebei province.3 The Shumei musician was probably removed from a wall of the northern temple group at Xiangtangshan. Examples of sculpture from Xiangtangshan are extremely rare outside of China; two more fragmentary relief sculptures are in a private collection in Japan: the head and shoulders of a lute player and a flute player, both of which share stylistic features with the Shumei example.4 ALJ 1. Sheng became visible in tombs at least as early as the Western Han period, with examples preserved in lacquered wood in Tombs 1 and 3 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan province, c. 168 B.C. (see Pirazzoli-t'Serstevens 1982, p. 54). The instrument was also quite common in tombs during the Three Kingdoms-Six Dynasties period. 2. See Pal 1984, pp. 272-73; Wright 1971, p. 59 and n.2; and Davidson 1954, pp. 58-61. The large relief now in the Freer Gallery was probably taken from Cave II of the southern group of Buddhist cave temples at Xiangtangshan and shows remarkable resemblance to composition found at Borobudur (see Soper 1960, p. 95). For an additional Northern Qi example see Shanghai 1996, no. 38. 3. Mizuno and Nagahiro 1937, pp. 1-10. 4. Ibid., introductory essay, pl. 4. Both the fragmentary lute player and the flute player are in the collection of Shoichi Fujiki, Tarazuka, Japan.
550 - 577
Bodhisattva Head, 3D model
- Title Translation: 菩萨头 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Apsaras Hand Jewel, 3D model
- Title Translation: 飞天手饰 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Bodhisattva Standing Guanyin, 3D model
- Title Translation: 观世音菩萨 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: Statue of a standing bodhisattva made of dark stone, brown and stained with age, with traces of red, green and blue pigment. The bodhisattva has a long face, plump cheeks, eyes nearly closed, with very long lobed ears, unpierced. There is a jeweled tiara with small a aureole in front on which is carved a tiny standing figure of Amida Buddha. There are streamers from the headdress with elaborately draped scarfs and jewels hanging down over the skirt. The statue is bare foot with no pedestal but does have a tang that comes out the bottom of the piece. C113, C150 and C151 are a set and come from Cave #2 of the Southern Xiangtangshan cave complex.
550 - 577
Bodhisattva Head, 3D model
- Title Translation: 菩萨头 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: Stone head of bodhisattva. Hard dark stone. Life size. Narrow oval face with half-closed eyes and tiny mouth; no urna; long ears with pierced lobes and earrings; three peaked headdress with tassels partly missing.
550 - 577
Buddha Head, 3D model
- Title Translation: 佛头 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: Stone head of Buddha. Stone with traces of pigment. The long earlobes of the Buddha are a reminder of the heavy earrings that he wore before renouncing material things to seek enlightenment. His rounded cheeks are meant to resemble those of a lion, an animal that is praised for its power and associated with Sakyamuni, the historical Buddha. The ushnisha, or cranial protuberance which may have originally been based on a topknot or turban, is considered a mark of wisdom. The urna, or marking on the forehead, is an all seeing eye. Finally the wavy hair of the Buddha suggests Greco Roman influence a departure from the conventional curls typical of Chinese sculptures at the time.
550 - 577
Disciple Hands, 3D model
- Title Translation: 弟子手 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Pratyekabuddha Standing, 3D model
- Title Translation: 辟支(缘觉)佛立像 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Bodhisattva Standing, 3D model
- Title Translation: 菩萨立像 , 3D模型
- Period: Sui, 581-518 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: Standing Guanyin Bodhisattva, head and both hands broken off. The smoothly falling robe forms thin ornamental folds.
550 - 577
Heavenly Buddhist Gathering, 3D model
- Title Translation: 天道会 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Disciple Standing
- Title Translation: 弟子
- Period: Northern Qi, 589-618 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: Expressing serene dignity, these youthful monks stand erect, their eyes downcast and hands firmly joined in reverent prayer. Their long earlobes allude to earrings that were worn by the Buddha as a young Indian prince and to his rejection of material wealth. Characteristic of Sui dynasty sculpture, the monks’ sharply defined facial features and the folds of their robes enhance the figures’ flat, understated modeling. Each of their robes was originally painted with rectangles of different colors, signifying the patchwork mantle worn by the Buddha and by pious monks who emulated his humble values. Only shadowy traces of these pigments are now evident.
589 - 618
Buddha Head
- Title Translation: 佛头
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: At the Xiangtangshan Buddhist sites in Hebei province, cave-temple construction and image-making were supported by the Northern Qi imperial court and nobility. Under the constant shadow of political uncertainty and the theory of the "Law of the Decadence" (or mofa, the deterioration of the True Law after the historical Buddha’s attainment of nirvana), the Buddhist faith was embraced as the ideal for rulership. The Buddha’s smile offers reassurance and consolation.
550 - 577
Monster Squatting Caryatid
- Title Translation: 鬼神蹲女像柱
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Disciple Mahakasyapa
- Title Translation: 门徒摩诃迦叶
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: Mahakasyapa, the disciple of Shakyamuni, is presented with closed eyes in an expression of meditative concentration. He is holding a reliquary for the Buddha’s ashes, which symbolize the Buddha entering final spiritual attainment (nirvana) at death. The artistic simplicity exemplifies the spiritual content of this figure.
550 - 577
Disciple Ananda Head
- Title Translation: 弟子阿难头
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Monster Kneeling
- Title Translation: 跪鬼神
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Pratyekabuddha Head
- Title Translation: 缘觉佛头
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Monster Kneeling
- Title Translation: 跪鬼神
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: Figure of a demon, intended to serve as a support for an engaged column. Body with wings, large horns, three fingers, and two toes; with shoulders hunched and arms braced on thighs.
550 - 577
550 - 577
Apsaras Hand Jewel
- Title Translation: 飞天手饰
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Bodhisattva Head
- Title Translation: 菩萨头
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: Stone head of a bodhisattva made of light colored stone with traces of red and yellow pigment. This head would have originally been part of a colossal statue. The piece is a companion to C353 and very similar to it, the principal differences being that the hair is arranged in a number of plaits and the crown is more elaborate. It is believed to originally come from the North Cave of Northern Xiangtangshan.
550 - 577