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0332	Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2
中国砂漠地帯の遺跡 : vol.2

0332

Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2

中国砂漠地帯の遺跡 : vol.2

shrines of the Khotan region, the core of the statues was
invariably formed by a rough wooden frame supplemented
by broom-like reed bundles for the support of extremities.
To this the wet clay was attached in rough clods, sub-
sequently carved into shape with the help of wooden
modelling tools, and finally richly painted over a succession
of colour washes.

If the technical methods had remained the same, the
steady course of deterioration in design and artistic execu-
tion was painfully brought home by the restorations old
and new. Few statues likely to date from T'ang times
had survived, and these only in their lower portions and
without their original hands or feet. But wherever such
old work had escaped, as seen e.g. in Fig. 161, the superior
modelling of the limbs, the well-balanced pose, and the
graceful arrangement of the drapery, would distinguish it
at a glance from the stiff and clumsy additions of later
restorers, or such coarse modern 'creations' as seen e.g. in
Figs. 188, 201. The hideousness of the latter was scarcely
redeemed by finding even here unmistakable traces of the
influence which the traditional style, originally reflecting
Graeco-Buddhist models, and imported through the Tarim
Basin, had continued to exercise almost to the present day
on local sculptural art however great its debasement.

Taking a general view, the preservation of elements
derived from the Buddhist art of India and Central Asia
was far more marked in the sculptural remains of these
cave-temples, whatever their age, than in the correspond-
ing pictorial work. It was just the reverse in respect of
the purely Chinese elements. Conspicuous as the latter
were in the frescoes, I found but few sculptures of such
distinctly Chinese style as those reproduced in Fig. 196.
And significantly enough, the principal figure here repre-
sented was Hsüan-tsang, the great Chinese pilgrim and
'Arhat,' to whom this temple was dedicated.

It is, however, in the frescoes or, to use a more accu-
rate term, mural paintings in tempera that the influence
which Chinese taste had upon Buddhist art transplanted
to Tun-huang most clearly asserts itself. There can be
no doubt that the most valuable artistic feature of the site

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