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

PAINTED FRAGMENTS PRESENTED BY MR. H. I. HARDING

As noted by Sir Aurel Stein, no definite information is available as to the provenance of the paintings under the designation Har. They were obtained by Mr. H. I. Harding, H. B. M.'s late Vice-Consul, Kashgar, from Badruddin Khān of Khotan, and presented by Mr. Harding for inclusion in the collections in the Central Asian Antiquities Museum, New Delhi. They are said to have been the result of digging by villagers at some ruins NE. of Domoko, probably Balawaste. See p. 1058, Innermost Asia.

Har. A

HEAD of a Bodhisattva, probably Hāritī. The round face, half-closed eyes with dreamy expression, the pursed lips with bow-shaped dividing line, the plump neck with comfortable creases, agree in their character with these features in the Hāritī of plate IV. The ears are large and carry lozenge-shape, drop ear-rings, yellow, crossed with red lines. The forehead bears a simple tilaka mark. There is a faint suggestion of a necklace on the left side. The smooth, black hair forms a point over the centre of the forehead, rises in a large top-knot, and, slightly bunched behind the ears, falls in heavy symmetrical tresses, spreading at each side, behind the shoulders. A narrow red taenia, spotted with white pearls, knotted behind the bunches of hair above the ears, the ends showing beside the hair, falls below the ears. A similar pearl band encircles the top-knot. Above the centre of the forehead is a white crescent-shaped ornament resting on a base-block and supporting an elliptical grey ornament, from which all details have faded. On either side of this and resting on the taenia is a similar crescent, supporting a domed boss, outlined with black, from the centre of which springs a curving horn or rod, outlined with red. These crescents—cow's horns or moons—are, perhaps, a fusion of the ideas of fertility and Hāritī's identification with the moon-goddess Chandi. The nimbus, now a dark grey, outlined with black, is surrounded by buff and light grey bands contoured with red lines. There is a trace of dark red drapery at the lower right corner. The background is red-brown. The whole surface is faded and abraded.

Har. C

Two youthful figures, in devotional pose, are placed one on either side of a kind of console which seems to support inadequately the trabeate abutment of two angular trusses. The details are very indistinct, but the necessarily imperfect

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