Page 470 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

This pagoda was found wrapped in silks inside
a larger stone stupa, which was found at the far end
2
of the first chamber, flanked by two stone lions
that had fallen over. The stone stupa itself had tilted
to one side, and extensive chips along the project-
ing edges suggest that it may well have been moved
from its original position on one or more of the
occasions when the relics were conveyed to the
3
capital. It was one of the first objects found when
the doors leading from the corridor to the first
chamber were opened.
Like the buildings in Tang depictions of Bud-
dhist Pure Lands (paradises), the model rises on
terraces from a lotus pool. On each of the four
sides, steps and bridges, guarded by paired lions
on columns, provide access across the pool to the
main terrace and the four locked doors. Standing
in front of the windows, two lokapalas (Heavenly
Kings) guard the main entrance. Slender columns
support the projecting eaves and tiled roof. The
mast that crowns the pagoda has six canopies
(chattms), a seventh of distinctive, umbrella-like
form, and, successively, a ring or halo, crescent
moon and jewel, and a lotus bud finial. In architec-
tural form and detail, this is a work of the early or
High Tang dynasty, seventh to eighth century BCE,
reflecting Pure Land Buddhism, with no hint of any
Esoteric elements. The motif of a crescent moon
and jewel, in particular, which ultimately derives
from the crowns of Sassanian kings, appears fre-
quently in the headdresses of Early and High Tang
bodhisattvas in the cave-temples at Dunhuang.
Nevertheless, the workmanship of the small parcel-
gilt silver coffin contained within the pagoda,
which in turn held a fingerbone relic (actually a
pies, such as the Famen Monastery's Ming dynasty precise replica of the principal relic found inside
octagonal pagoda, tended to be constructed of the set of nesting caskets, cat. 164), is similar to that
brick, but many early pagodas, including the earlier of the many objects made much later, around the
four-story square pagoda of the Famen Monastery, time of the final dedication in 874. RW
were constructed of wood, perfectly exemplified in
1
this gilt bronze, single-story model. The founda- 1 Excavated in 1987 (FD 3:002 - 2); reported: Shaanxi
19883, 20.
tions show that the earlier Famen Monastery struc- 2 Han and Zhao 1998, 351.
ture had four main supporting columns and twenty 3 Whitfield 19903, 253 - 254.
outer columns; it had five bays on each side, instead
of the three that we see in this example.

469 FAMEN M O N A S T E R Y AT FUFENC