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0056 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2
中国砂漠地帯の遺跡 : vol.2
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 / 56 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000213
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perched one above the other without any order or
arrangement in stories (Fig. 159). In front of many were
open verandah-like porches carved out of the soft rock
with walls and ceilings bearing faded frescoes. Rough
stairs cut into the cliff and still rougher wooden galleries
served as approaches to the higher caves. But many of
these seemed on the point of crumbling away, and high up
in the topmost rows there were manifestly shrines which
had become quite inaccessible.
There was nothing to guide me in my first rapid sight-
seeing. Some of the larger grottoes on the lowest floor
had, indeed, elaborate wooden antechapels of unmistak-
ably modern look to indicate restoration. But I soon
found that even these shrines contained much that was
manifestly old both in fresco work and statuary. As I
passed rapidly from one cella to another my eyes could
scarcely take in more than the general type of the frescoes
and certain technical features of the stucco sculptures.
The former, in composition and style, showed the closest
affinity to the remains of Buddhist pictorial art trans-
planted from India to Eastern Turkestan, and already
familiar from the ruined shrines I had excavated at
Dandan-oilik and other old sites about Khotan. But in
the representation of figures and faces the influence of
Chinese taste made itself felt distinctly, and instead of the
thin outlines and equally thin colouring there appeared
often a perfect exuberance of strong, but well-harmonized
colours. Where deep blues and greens preponderated
there was something in the effect distinctly recalling
Tibetan work.
I could not doubt for a moment that the best of these
frescoes belonged to the times of the T'ang dynasty. In
the rest, whether left in their original state or touched
up by modern restorers, I could see that I had before me
the work of painters who faithfully continued the artistic
traditions of that period. The subjects and sizes of the
mural paintings varied greatly in the different shrines,
while the ground plan and arrangement of the latter
showed much uniformity. From a kind of oblong ante-
chapel, fully open to the light, but generally badly injured,