National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

skill shown in the painting. A fleshlike bloom is achieved by white hatching over

the pink, not unlike the technique of the early Sienese school. The lights on the

chin, expressed by a rapid spiral stroke of white; the lights on the lower lip,

obtained by `reserving' the lighter pink; the white line following the bow-like

curve of the upper lip and the emphatic touches of black, are all evidence of the

rapid work of a very competent hand, working with complete assurance in accor-

dance with a matured formula. The white

line beside the face, probably from the

head-dress, effectively relieves the flesh

colour of the cheek from the dull yellow

of the background, which may be part of

a nimbus.

M. III. 0033

This fragment, showing part of a face,

nearly life-size, has qualities similar to

those of M. III. 0010, and is probably by

the same artist.

,o

   'ft

PLAN OF RUINED SHRINE M. III.

M. III. ii. and M. III. viii

4

These are two sections selected from

the dado of the circular cella of the shrine.

The original positions of the `angel' figures, as recorded by Sir Aurel Stein, are

shown by the small Roman numerals in the plan. They represent the busts of

winged figures rising from the hollows of a series of lunettes painted round the

lower part of the wall in the same manner as the festoon in M. V., shown in

plate III. The pose of the heads, looking alternately right and left, with a slight

upward tilt, thus formed pairs.

In this case the festoon is not floral and is not supported by putti, but is just a

series of loops, with no surviving decorative treatment immediately below. But

still lower, to quote Sir Aurel Stein's record written at the time of discovery;

`Below the row of lunettes there stretched a horizontal band about 9 inches wide,

filled with eight or nine wave lines in black, and once, so far as could be judged

from the damaged surface of the plaster, extending also upwards into the spandrels

left between the lunettes. This band, poorly preserved in most places, was

curiously suggestive of the sea.' The face contours are delicately round. The eye-

5