obviously painted from life by a very skilled hand. The face and pose admirably express pious devotion. The lady's costume, with its pleated skirt and high empire waist, as well as her hair plainly done in a small knot on the neck, represent an early fashion closely resembling that seen in the embroidery hanging. It is, in fact, found on certain Chinese relievos of the seventh century.
Quite a number of characteristic peculiarities of this picture is shared by another large silk painting of Amitabha Buddha's Paradise. Here, too, we see the central Buddha seated on a lotus and flanked by his two principal Bodhisattvas and their attendants. From the lake on which the lotus floats there rise lotus buds enveloping pious souls about to be re-born. By the side of a panel intended for an inscription which has never been written in, there are shown small figures kneeling, two donors on the right and a lady on the left. The costume and hair-dress of the lady shows the closest resemblance to that of the fine figure of the donatrix we have seen before.
The two pictures we have just examined with their comparatively simple schemes make it easier for us to make out the details and appreciate the artistic execution of the more elaborate paintings which show Buddhist Heavens. The one seen in Fig. io8 introduces to us the Paradise of Bhaishajyaguru, the Buddha of Medicine.
In the middle we see the presiding Buddha seated on a lotus, in the pose of `Argumentation', and by his side the Bodhisattvas Samantabhadra and Manjusri surrounded by smaller attendant Bodhisattvas, all richly attired and with nimbuses. Immediately behind the Buddha, four saintly disciples are shown with the close-cropped hair of monks.
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