Page 157 - China, 5000 years : innovation and transformation in the arts

The commission of the imperial caves at
Xiangtangshan was also connected with the founding
of an ancient capital: Ye, capital of Northern Qi
(550—577), in southwestern Hebei Province. Literary
evidence and inscriptions on steles permit us to
assume that the emperor Wenxuan (r. 550-559)
initiated this project. In Buddhist texts he is
described as a "devoted and generous follower of
the Church." The work on the large complex of
Buddhist caves on the southwestern slope of
Tianlongshan, southwest of present-day Taiyuan in
Shanxi Province, is likely to have begun around 535
and seems to have continued until the middle of
the eighth century, after more than a hundred years
of suspended activity, under the patronage of
influential people closely connected with the ruling
Tang dynasty.
In addition to Buddhist images in cave-temples,
images of stone, clay, bronze, and other materials
were worshiped in wood-constructed buildings,
temple courtyards, domestic shrines, and private
homes. Although we have a general view of the
development of Buddhist sculpture in China, it will
require further investigation to more precisely
identify regional schools and individual workshops
and to determine their characteristics, patrons, and
periods of flourishing. More research is also needed
to discover when the first freestanding stone
Buddhist images were created and where this
process began. The oldest freestanding stone statues
in the round are not likely to predate the first half their excellent state of preservation. Further
of the sixth century. The use of micaceous white
marble known as Han baiyushi ("white jade[-like]
stone of Han") may have played an important role;
it was an almost ideal material for the sculptors
working in the Dingzhou and Baoding areas in
Hebei Province. Besides smaller sculptures and
steles, monumental statues in the round have been
found in this area that exhibit a delicate
smoothness. The flat drapery folds cling to the body
and flow in subtle, graceful lines, contrasting with
the rounded forms of the head. A large number of
marble sculptures, several inscribed and dated to the One of the earliest and most enduringly popular
520s, were excavated from the ruins of the ancient
Xiude Temple near Quyang in Hebei.
Most important for the study of Buddhist sculpture
is the comparatively large corpus of votive steles
(huanyuan fobei) richly decorated with engravings
and reliefs of various depths and heights. They were
usually installed in temple compounds, in
monasteries and nunneries or their courtyards, and
also in cave-chapels. Their prototypes may be seen
in the memorial and other inscribed steles
customary in China since Han times. Four-sided
pier-steles resting on a pedestal usually have a
simulated roof that serves as a top member and are
adorned in several registers with Buddhist images,
often set in niches on each of the four sides.
TRANSFIGURING DIVINITIES: BUDDHIST SCULPTURE IN CHINA
Another major type is a rectangular monolith set up
Onvertically on a low base. the front of the stele is
a triad or a larger configuration centered on a
seated Buddha and placed in a recess with imitated
architectural elements, draped curtains, and canopy
at the front (cats. 154, 155, 157, 158, 161). This
arrangement is strongly reminiscent of the walls of
cave-chapels. The reverse side of such steles may
also be sculptured in relief, with groups of figures
from the Buddhist pantheon, narrative scenes of
sacred events and locations, or assemblages of
donors. Often the rear is reserved for inscriptions,
including long lists of donors' names. In some cases,
pairs of intertwined dragons crown the work
(cat. 157). Steles with images in relief on the front
only, leaving the rear unworked, were originally
most likely set into the walls of a temple structure.
In 1975 seventeen marble steles of this sort were
unearthed near the village of Caotan, at Xi'an, in
Shaanxi Province (cat. 159). They were discovered
standing in pairs, face to face, which accounts for
archaeological evidence suggests that they were
carefully buried at the site of an ancient Buddhist
—temple for safety reasons probably to protect them
from the iconoclasts of one of the devastating
Buddhist persecutions in old Chang'an. Steles with
a multitude of miniature Buddha niches
surrounding the central image are customarily
referred to as "Thousand Buddha" steles.
types of votive stele represents a seated or standing
Buddha haloed by a leaf-shaped mandorla, or
aureole (cats. 147-49). The Buddha thus represented
is often Sakyamuni, the historical Buddha, or the
redeeming Buddha of the Future, Maitreya,
identified as a rule by his cross-ankled pose. The
Buddha is presented in solemn frontality and high
—relief, almost in the round a stately figure, imbued
with majestic grandeur. A blissfully withdrawn smile
on his face radiates tranquility and salvific certitude.
The symbolic gestures of the hands, or mudras,
effectively convey powerful instructive messages to
Onthe devout beholder. the front of the aureole,
dense patterns and ornaments are often interspersed
with miniature Buddha figures called
"Transformation Buddhas" (huqfo). Occasionally, the
pointed mandorla curves gently forward at the top.
This, along with other features such as the engraved
wreath of flames, may have been inspired by gilded
Onbronze images. the reverse, carved in low relief
or incised, we find groups of minor deities and
donors, along with narrative scenes of the Buddha's
life and depictions of holy or miraculous deeds,
events, and encounters. Most of these features may
be seen on a stele reportedly unearthed in
Xingping county, Shaanxi Province (cat, 147). The
inscription on the rear of its pedestal is parti]
damaged, but the date can be safely read: it
155