国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

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0729 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.1
中国砂漠地帯の遺跡 : vol.1
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.1 / 729 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000213
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CH. XLII   ART OF ANGEL FRESCOES   475

peculiar tuft of hair arranged in resemblance to a two-lobed leaf with stalk, which appears on the otherwise shaven front of the head. The origin of this fashion still remains to be traced.

In the panel below an extraordinary vivacious character is imparted to the whole by the clever way in which the general left inclination of the lines of the figure is counterbalanced by the steady gaze of the eyes to the right. The head is here round like that of a Cupid and the cheeks plump, but not with the baby puffiness of the Renaissance. The large, fully opened eyes bear a happy, ingenuous expression, the lively effect being heightened by the skilful painting of the nut-brown iris, not circular, but vertically elliptical, to mark the foreshortening of the gaze turned aside. The lips are full, smiling, and painted in open lines of bright vermilion, allowing the pink under-tint of flesh to appear and express ` juicy ' high lights. Tiny spots at the angles of the mouth emphasize the dimples. All features and contours have been drawn freely with the brush over a wash of pale flesh tint. The general effect is delicately softened by the careful application of warmer pinks on the cheeks and elsewhere, and of well-graduated greys for the shadows.

By the side of such command of colour and chiaroscuro technique as these dado paintings display, there remains in all of them a distinct aim at boldness of outlines and general effect which was admirably well suited to the subdued light in which they were placed. Where so much must be mere reproduction of art forms developed far away in the West, it is of interest to note indications of the artistic feeling and skill with which the painters at Miran managed to adapt their often practised designs to peculiar structural conditions. Clear evidence of this is afforded, I think, by the clever way in which the whole pose of the winged busts in the dado is devised for the position they occupy on the wall of a circular passage and about three feet from the floor. Their gaze, whatever its direction, to the right or left or straight in front, is raised just sufficiently to catch the eyes of the worshipper as he passes along in the traditional circumambulation of the Stupa.