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

the present Badakhshī breed of Western Turkestān, a favourite region for China's horse imports
since early times ; it is exactly represented also among the numerous clay figures of horses
which in 1915 I excavated in plenty from Turfān graves of the T'ang period. The saddles,
high-pommeled at back and front, and covered with long saddle-cloths, are met with there
also. For the ornamentation of headstall, breast-band, and crupper, reference to a painted
panel from Dandān-oilik showing a horseman and also of the T'ang period is instructive.¹⁵

The scene on the left forms an exact pendant to the one just described. Here a lady
similarly placed and attired is having her head shaved by a monk. Among the attendants
behind her two ladies have their hair done in topknots with two high loops, whereas two
others, evidently girls, wear it in a bunch on either side of the head with a short lock hanging
from each. Behind appear bearers of the hexagonal palanquin with pagoda roof, of which
a small portion is included in the reproduction.

The central scene shows the adorning of a Stūpa or Buddhist relic tower and presents
points of distinct antiquarian interest. Its shape is cylindrical, with a low flat dome and
a square base below. A three-tiered umbrella, hung with streamers and metal ornaments,
surmounts it. Below workmen are seen engaged in arranging the draperies. Two long
tables are laden with flasks, bowls, and other offerings, while bundles of manuscript rolls
are placed at either side ; they are all likely to represent votive gifts made at the time of
consecration.

PLATE X

AMITĀBHA WITH ATTENDANTS

The painting (Ch. liii. 001) which this Plate successfully reproduces in colours, on the
scale of three-eighths of the original, is a good representative of the small but interesting
class of what may be designated as simplified Paradise pictures. We see in it Amitābha
enthroned on a lotus between Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāma, with two lesser Bodhisattvas
in front and a row of well-individualized disciples behind. No lake is represented ; but a com-
parison with the painting represented in the next Plate, XI, with which ours shares a number
of marked peculiarities in composition, style, colour, and treatment, suffices to show that
a representation of Amitābha's Heaven is intended.

Amitābha is seated with legs interlocked and his right hand raised in the usual vitarka-
mudrā. His flesh is yellow shaded with red which has changed to a curious iridescent mauve ;
his hair a bright blue. His mantle, vivid crimson, is wrapped round both shoulders, its
drapery reproducing all details of the arrangement which Graeco-Buddhist sculpture had
borrowed from Hellenistic art and handed over to be stereotyped with hieratic convention
in the Buddha figures of Central Asia and the Far East. The lotus, his seat, is raised on a
high stepped pedestal and has its pink petals covered all over with beautiful floral scrolls
in white, blue, and black. Similar rich scroll-work adorns the base of the pedestal and
reappears on the canopy which hangs above the Buddha's head, raised on two trees. Their
stems are treated like jewelled poles, and their large star-shaped leaves are arranged in whorls
enclosing conical clusters of red fruit. An Apsaras sweeps down on either side, scattering
flowers ; her floating garments and the gracefully curling clouds which support her express
rapidity of movement.

Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāma occupy well-designed, if less ornate, lotus seats, the former
raising a flaming jewel in his left hand and the latter an alms-bowl. Among the multicoloured
jewellery with which they are bedecked, the Dhyāni-buddha set in front of the tiara may be
mentioned. Below them are seated two lesser Bodhisattvas, in similarly rich dress and
adornment, the one, in profile, holding a red lotus, the other, in three-quarters profile,
a flask. Their foreshortened elliptical haloes in green and the transparent light blue stoles
deserve notice.