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

1920

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. The relief to the left (north) of the doorway, extending around the corner onto the north wall, is commonly referred to as the Emperor Procession, and shows a group of richly robed aristocratic figures with servants carrying offerings to the Buddha.

历史照片。 门口左侧（北面）的浮雕，从拐角延伸到北墙，通常被称为皇帝游行，描绘了一群穿着华丽长袍的贵族人物，带着仆人向佛陀抬着供品。

Subjects

cave temples

reliefs

Friedrich Perzyński

Rights and Identifier

Work Acquisition

Fletcher Fund, 1935

Image Rights

public domain in the United States

Image Source

Perzyński, Friedrich. Von Chinas Göttern: Reisen In China. München: K. Wolff, 1920.

Work ID

35.146

Image ID

LCB-AP-1920-P028