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| 0059 |
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 |
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a high and relatively wide passage led into a square, high-
roofed cella hewn out of the rock, and as much as forty-
five feet square. Within the cella was ordinarily to be
found a group of images occupying either an elevated
platform or else placed in a kind of alcove facing the
entrance. All the wall faces were covered with plaster
bearing frescoes. Those on the passage walls ordinarily
represented rows of Bodhisattvas moving in procession
or seated in tiers. Within the cellas the paintings were
generally arranged in large, elaborately bordered panels,
either singly or, where the wall surface was extensive,
in a series. In the centre of these there appeared
mostly figures of Buddhas, singly or in groups, sur-
rounded by divine worshippers and attendants in many
varied forms and poses. There were scenes from the
Buddhist heavens, from legends in which Buddhas or
saints figured, representations of life in their places of
worship, etc. (Fig. 160).
But whether the wall decoration showed such pious
compositions, or only that infinite multiplication of Bodhi-
sattvas and saints in which Buddhist piety revels, all details
in the drawing and grouping of the divine figures bore
the impress of Indian models. In the figures of Buddhas
particularly, the faithful preservation of the type of face,
pose, and drapery as developed by Graeco-Buddhist art
was most striking. In the subjects of the friezes and side
panels, which often, apparently, reproduced scenes from the
daily life of monks and other mundane worshippers; in the
designs of rich floral borders, the Chinese artists seemed
to have given free expression to their love for ornate land-
scape backgrounds, graceful curves, and bold movement
(Figs. 203, 204). But no local taste had presumed to trans-
form the dignified serenity of the features, the simple yet
impressive gestures, the graceful richness of folds with which
classical art, as transplanted to the Indus, had endowed the
bodily presence of Tathagata and his many epiphanies.
Of the general style and merit of the sculptural remains
it was more difficult to form a rapid impression; for much
of this statuary in friable stucco had suffered badly through
decay of its material, mere soft clay, and even more from
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723
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736
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749
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771
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793
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803
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813
814
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