Paradise of
Bhaishajyaguru, ink and colours on
silk
From Cave 17, Mogao, near Dunhuang, Gansu
province, China
Tang dynasty, dated AD
836
Synthesis of Chinese and Tibetan painting
styles
This large painting is devoted to
Bhaishajyaguru, the Buddha of Healing. Dated and inscribed in both
Chinese and Tibetan, is an interesting example of how different
modes of painting reached a unique synthesis in the multi-cultural
climate of Dunhuang. The Tibetans occupied Dunhuang from AD 781 to
848 and some of the earliest paintings in the Tibetan painting
style have survived
there.
The figures painted
in the Tibetan mode have elongated haloes and are much flatter and
more decorative than those painted in the more typical style of the
Chinese Tang
dynasty.
Instead of the
more common architectural setting, the Paradise is set in a
landscape, with the figures arranged in a more formalized way,
almost like in a
mandala.
The two
bodhisattvas
Samantabhadra and Manjushri - recognisable by their mounts, the
elephant and the lion - occupy the middle ground. At the bottom of
the painting we can also see the esotericform of Manjushri shown
with a Thousand Bowls.
R. Whitfield, Art of Central Asia: The Ste-2, vol. 1 (Tokyo, Kodansha International Ltd., 1982-85)