Longmen Binyang Central Cave, northeast wall, showing removed donors relief ("Emperor Xiaowen and his entourage worshipping the Buddha")

Information

Title

Longmen Binyang Central Cave, northeast wall, showing removed donors relief ("Emperor Xiaowen and his entourage worshipping the Buddha")

龙门宾阳中洞, 东北壁，有被拆除的施主浮雕（“孝文帝一行礼佛”）

Creator

unknown

Work Type

cave temples

reliefs

Date

386–534 C.E.

Period

Northern Wei

Cultural Context

Chinese

Buddhism

Material

limestone

Technique

relief

Capture Date

1910

File Format

image

Descriptions and Subjects

Work Description

Together with a companion piece showing an empress and her attendants (now in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City), this depiction of an emperor and his entourage once adorned the Central Binyang Cave (also known as Cave 3) in the Longmen complex, near Luoyang, in Henan province. It was positioned centrally on the northeast wall between a group of protective semidivinities above and a narrative debate scene below. Xuanwu commissioned the construction of the Central Binyang Cave in honor of his father, the emperor Xiaowen (r. 471–99), and his mother, the dowager Wenzhou (d. 494); the emperor and empress in the reliefs are therefore believed to refer to his parents. A figure wearing court garments and holding a tasseled baton leads the procession. He is followed by a smaller figure wearing armor and another who stands before the emperor, holding an incense burner. The trees originally indicated the point at which the procession moved around a corner, from the north to the east wall. Several of the attendants hold lotuses or other flowers and offerings, and the entire procession can be understood as making offerings to the Buddhas in the cave, an act of merit making that would continue in perpetuity and improve the future lives of the participants.

这幅皇帝及其随从的画像曾与另一幅描绘皇后及其侍从的姊妹画（现藏于堪萨斯城纳尔逊-阿特金斯艺术博物馆）一起装饰于龙门宾阳洞中央（又称第 3 窟）。 位于河南省洛阳市附近。 它位于东北墙的中央，上面是一群保护性的半神，下面是一个叙事辩论场景。 宣武帝为纪念他的父亲孝文帝（471-99 年在位）和他的母亲温州太后（494 年去世）而下令建造宾阳洞中央。 因此，浮雕中的皇帝和皇后被认为是指他的父母。 一个穿着宫廷服装、手持流苏接力棒的人物在游行队伍中走在最前面。 他身后跟着一个穿着盔甲的较小人物，另一个手持香炉站在皇帝面前。 这些树木最初指示了游行队伍绕过一个拐角处，从北墙到东墙的位置。 几位侍者手持莲花或其他鲜花和供品，整个游行队伍可以理解为供养洞中的诸佛，这是一种永久持续的功德行为，可以改善参加者的未来生活。

Image Description

historical photo. Original image title: FSA A.1 12.5.GN. Original image description: Glass plate negatives from 1910-1911 travel in China. Charles L. Freer Papers. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Scope and contents: Glass plate negative taken by Chinese photographer Yü Tai for Charles Lang Freer during his journey to the cave temples of Longmen in Henan Province, and a subsequent brief trip to Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province between October 1910 and February 1911. This relief is currently in the Metropolitan Museum, New York.

历史照片。 原始图片标题：FSA A.1 12.5.GN。 原图描述：1910-1911年间在中国旅行的玻璃底片。 查尔斯·L·弗里尔论文。 弗利尔艺术画廊和阿瑟·萨克勒画廊档案馆。 史密森尼学会，华盛顿特区 范围和内容：中国摄影师于泰为查尔斯·朗·弗利尔在 1910 年 10 月至 1910 年 10 月至 19 年间前往河南省龙门石窟寺以及随后到浙江省杭州市的短暂旅行期间拍摄的玻璃底片。 1911 年 2 月。这幅浮雕现藏于纽约大都会博物馆。

Subjects

cave temples

reliefs

Charles Lang Freer

Rights and Identifier

Work Acquisition

Fletcher Fund, 1935

Image Rights

Permission to publish, quote or reproduce must be secured from the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Smithsonian Institution.; Please email to AVRreference@si.edu; Call 202.633.0533 or fax to 202.633.0067

Image Source

Smithsonian Institution Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives

Work ID

35.146

Image ID

FSA A.01 12.05.GN.090