著者

上野 アキ

雑誌

美術研究 = The bijutsu kenkiu : the journal of art studies

巻号頁・発行日

no.269, pp.1-35, 1970-11-10

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An enormous amount of artistic and literary materials were brought from Tun-huang by Sir Aurel Stein and Paul Pelliot. The paintings among them are now in British Museum, London, National Museum, New Delhi and Musée Guimét, Paris. As for the Stein Collection, there are descriptions in Serindia, Oxford, 1921, and Thousand Buddhas, London, 1921, and there is a comprehensive study by Dr. MATSUMOTO, Eiichi, Tonkōga no Kenkyū (Studies on Tun-huang Paintings), Tokyo, 1937. On the other hand, no comprehensive documentation has not yet published as to the Pelliot Collection. In the present paper, the author discusses banner paintings representing Buddha's life from both collections. She here treats long narrow banners in which scenes from Buddha's life are vertically arranged and she does not treat so called side scenes belonging to a larger painting. There are thirty-two pieces which are generally regarded to be of this category including fragments, namely, eighteen in Brisith Museum, eleven in National Museum, New Delhi, and three in Musée Guimét. Some of these works have been illustrated in the above mentioned books. In preparing the plates of the present number, the author puts emphasis on the unpublished works. For instance, those shown in the colour plate are works which have not been published in colour before. The present paper consists of two parts. In the first part in this number, the author gives detailed descriptions to the works and in the second part she will discuss their subjects, styles, techniques and dates. As for the works of Stein Collection, she uses the numbering system now in use in British Museum, that is, the numbering system adopted in Catalogue of Paintings Recover ed from Tun-huang by Sir Aurel Stein, London, 1931. The correspondence with the original numbering system by Stein is shown in the table in page 3. The main works discussed in the present paper are as follows: Stein Collection No. 84 (Pl. IIIa) has short explanation phrases as well as No. 86 (fig. 1), a work of the same type. Both explanations are of naive letters written with a sort of pen. Stein Collection No. 85 (Pl. II) is a work chiefly done in line drawing. The rendering technique of the profiles of men seen at the upper part is characteristic. It depicts the pursuers galloping their horses after Siddhartha's "great departure," Siddhartha's horse Kanthaka and the groom Chandaka leaving him in the mountain and Kanthaka coming back to the palace. Stein Collection No. 88 is a part of a larger composition judging from the seam running vertically at the right portion, and therefore it is hard to count it as a banner painting of Buddha's life. Nos. 88 (fig. 3) and 90 (fig. 4) might be called the best among the works discussed here, with very fine brushwork, precise rendition and brilliant colours. No. 88 depicts the scenes with the aged and the sick of the four scenes Prince Siddhartha saw outside the four gates of the palace. No. 90 shows his training in literary and military arts in his boyhood. The fringes on the both sides and between the sections has patterns decorated with rainbow grading in which the T'ang style combinations of blue with red and green with violet are consistently observed. Stein Collection Nos. 91 (Pl. IIIb) and 89 (Pl. IIIc) are proved to have belonged to the same composition depicting the dream of Mahāmāyā, the birth of Siddhartha, his bath in the Lumbini Garden and the scene of the seven steps. Stein Collection No. 92 (fig. 5) is a complete banner with its top at the upper end and also with the bottom fringe. Stein Collection No. 93 has a drawing of the seven treasures of Cakravartin. Stein Collection No. 94 (Pl. Ia) depicts the three scenes of the "simultaneous birth". A sheep suckling a lamb, a cow licking the head of its calf and a mare suckling a foal are seen. The grasses each of which has one red flower and one violet flower are characteristic. Stein Collection No. 95 (fig. 7) is a work with brilliant colours depicting the scenes of the farewell of Chandaka and Kanthaka, the departure of Chandaka and the pursuit of the messengers. Stein Collection No. 96 (fig. 8) has the most standardized arrangement with four sections as well as No. 509 (fig. 17), both of them having flat areas of colours. The landscape seen in No. 509 is interesting enough. Stein Collection No. 97 (Pl. IVa) has scenes with dark colours compared with its fringes of floral patterns as well as No. 510 (fig. 17). The landscapes of both works show the mixture of the Six-Dynasties style and the Tang style. Stein Collection No. 98 (Pl. Ib) is a drawing with slight colours depicting the scenes of Siddhartha's marriage, pleasures of the palace and the great departure. The expression of the simple but lovely faces of the figures is interesting Stein Collection No. 99 (fig. 9) is one of the most beautiful paintings of this group. It de picts the seven treasures of Cakravartin, Prince Siddhartha's bath in the Lumbini Garden and the scene of the seven steps. Stein Collection No. 100 (fig. 10) is a drawing with faint colours showing scenes of five men running in fear in thundering rain, Prince Siddhartha's austerities and his bath in the Niranjanā River. Stein Collection No. 305 (fig. 12) bears the two same scenes as No. 95 and the scene of Buddha's preaching. The work itself is not so good as No. 95. Stein Collection No. 464 (Pl. IVb) keeps the top part of the banner. Well-preserved coarse pigments are seen. The fringes on the both sides and between the sections has the same characteristics as Nos. 514 and 515. Stein Collection No. 492 (fig. 13) is a beautifully coloured painting depicting four scenes concerning Siddhartha's great departure. The fact that the roof at the left end of the fourth scene is now upside-down compared with the plate in Serindia (fig. 15), suggests that the other side of the banner is also coloured. The author presumes that the top scene as is now framed must be the different side from the other part now seen in the frame (fig. 14). Stein Collection No. 514 (Pl. Ic) has fringes on the right and left sides and between the sections which are the same type as No. 515. The author attributes the third scene to the scene with Asita reading Siddhartha's character by his physical features and the fourth to the scene of Siddhartha's coming back to the palace after it. Musée Guimét EO 1154 (fig. 19) seems to be the scene concerning the great departure though it is now disordered due to the rough repairs and retouches. The fine rendition of the figures has something in common with Stein Collection No. 227. Musée Guimet Nos. 1216 (fig. 20) and 1217 (fig. 21) are complete banners. The former depicts the trainings of Siddhartha in his boyhood and the latter, his horse ride out of four gates of the palace. Both are of rather inferior work. The latter is shown in Pl. V alongside Stein Collection No. 88 with the same subject.