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| 0339 |
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 |
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Naginis, half-human half-snake, represented as disporting
themselves in the water.
No photographs could convey an impression of the
charm which these compositions, and those to be described
presently in the larger temples, derive from their rich and
harmoniously blended colouring. In the design and
grouping of the figures, in their drapery and general
iconography, most of what is presented to us by these
panels is a direct inheritance from Graeco-Buddhist art as
developed in Central Asia. But when we come to examine
the technique, even of these hieratic representations where
regard for the traditional models was strongest, the
difference in treatment is striking. Everywhere the free
sweep of the brush so characteristic of Chinese pictorial
art endeavours to assert itself over the delicate outline
drawing which the same figures display in the frescoes and
panels of ancient Khotan. With this change goes naturally
a far greater attention to colour effect. The deep purples,
browns, and blues which prevail, are set off very strikingly
by the usual ground colour, a pale greenish blue most
restful to the eye and probably first suggested by the lotus
tanks amidst which these scenes of Buddhist paradise are
so often placed.
Chinese style, which after all could only modify but not
radically change the treatment of these hieratic scenes
fixed by convention going back to Indian ground, found
free scope in the smaller side panels and dados decorated
with quasi-secular scenes of monastic life, husbandry,
and travel. It is true that these little scenes, usually
accompanied by cartouches filled in with Chinese inscrip-
tions, or more often left blank, are in all probability meant
to illustrate 'Jatakas,' or stories from Buddha's former
births. But whether from the absence of Graeco-Buddhist
models to guide, or on account of some other reason, the
whole treatment here seems frankly Chinese. The result
is work less effective from a decorative point of view, in
fact often a little prosaic and confused, but full of quaint
life and vivid movement.
The frescoes of some larger shrines show in places big
panels of this type side by side with the conventional
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