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

Remains
of stucco
sculptures.

The remains of artistic or technical interest recovered from the wreckage were, as the Descrip-
tive List shows, numerous enough. But after the account given above of the conditions in which
they were found, it cannot cause surprise that almost all have badly suffered, whether at the time
when the shrine was cleared—and demolished—or subsequently through exposure. Nevertheless
a brief review of them will be useful if only to show how much it is to be hoped that the large and
valuable haul of antiques which Colonel Kozlov's expedition carried away from this ruin may yet
obtain that adequate study and publication which it deserves. The mass of sculptural fragments
in stucco proves that the number of images of all sizes, from colossal statues down to mere figurines,
must have been considerable relatively to the limited space afforded by the domed chamber.

Such parts as ears, fingers, hands from life-size or larger statues, K.K. II. 086, 94–6, 99, 114,
141, 225, &c. (Pl. LIV), had naturally a better chance of surviving than heavy heads or torsos in clay,
of which several were found lying, bereft of their painted surface and almost unrecognizable, amidst
the debris and on the ground below it. Of some Buddha heads of large size only the masks of faces
modelled in harder stucco, 0185–7 (Pl. LIV), could be found. The colossal forearm, 0101 (Pl. LV),
is of interest as it is clad in a peculiar type of gilded mail, with links resembling a 'caltrop', which
appears also in several other stucco fragments, 084, 103, 163, 197 (Pl. LV), and which is seen also
on the figure of Vaiśravana in several Ch'ien-fo-tung paintings. It is highly probable that the
fragments of mail found here, too, belonged to a Lokapāla image. To the figure of a demon crouch-
ing below a Lokapāla's feet may be attributed the fragment of a demonic face, 0184 (Pl. LIV),
with wide open eyeball. Among the remains of small stucco images the following deserve special
mention: the well-modelled heads of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, 0188–9, 221 (Pl. LIII); the dis-
tinctly negroid-looking head, 0126 (Pl. LIII); the seated figures, 0108, 156 (Pl. LIII, LIV), and draped
torsos, 0104, 175, 226 (Pl. LIII); and the curious animal skulls, 0118, 127 (Pl. LIII). Animal figures
are represented by several small leopards, in different attitudes, 0145, 159, 170 (Pl. LIII), and the head
of a dragon, 0190 (Pl. LIII). Among remains of wood-carving the dignified statuette of a standing
Buddha, 01 (Pl. LXVI), with its curious look of a Gothic sculpture, is of distinct interest, and so also
is the well-carved figure of a Śaivaitic divinity straddling over two monsters, 0312 (Pl. LIII).

Remains
of wall
paintings.

Numerous fragments of painted plaster attest that the walls of the chamber were adorned in
tempera. Pieces like 0125, 138, 148, 166, 183 (Pl. LV), showing coffers with graceful grisaille
ornamentation, look as if they had belonged to the vaulted ceiling. That figures formed part of
the fresco decoration is shown by pieces like 0105, 118 (Pl. LIII). Other fragments like 0145,
155, exhibit very elegant designs in grisaille. It is probable that a fine fresco panel which had
been cut out and was found by us in one of the recesses carved into the interior of the northern
town wall was brought away by Colonel Kozlov's party from this shrine and then accidentally
left behind there.

Fragments
of silk
paintings,
&c.

The remains of paintings on silk, 08, 10, 11, 24, 45, 74, 81, 311, had all suffered more or less by
exposure; but there could be no doubt that in arrangement and general style they corresponded
closely to the silk banners recovered by me in such numbers from Ch'ien-fo-tung. The fragment
011, with its graceful floating figure of an Apsaras, is not inferior to the average of the latter in
design and technique. In 035, 66, we have fragments of canvas banners, like those of Ch'ien-fo-tung.

Book
illustrations
by block
print.

But far more numerous are the block-printed designs representing Buddhist divinities and other
sacred subjects, which were found among the packets of printed leaves from Hsi-hsia texts as book
illustrations or as detached pictures. The reproductions contained in Plates LXII–LXV, and the
detailed descriptions in the List (pp. 480–98) given of those pieces of which Mr. Andrews has
been able to make a careful examination, show the considerable interest attaching to these pictorial
remains in spite of all the damage they have suffered, partly at the time of the original 'clearing'