A history of Chinese silk, £29.95
Explore / Online Tours
Kshitigarbha as Lord of the Six Ways
Height: 56.100 cm (painted
area)
Width: 51.500 cm
Asia OA 1919,1-1,0.19
Asia
The 'Caves of the Thousand Buddhas'
Patrons
The decoration of each cave-temple was usually commissioned by an individual (whether an official, monk, governor or merchant, for example) and dedicated to their families and deceased relatives. However, some were commissioned by groups of lay individuals, or a religious society. The responsibility for the cave's upkeep was often passed on to the patron's descendants, and it could stay in the same family for generations.
The caves were excavated by a team of workmen, who chiselled out the ceiling and walls, which were then plastered with clay tempered with chopped straw and finished with a thin layer of plaster. The paintings would have already been commissioned, and were executed by skilled workmen under the direction of a senior Buddhist monk. Sculptures made of stucco around a wooden armature were also an integral part of the decoration.
Patrons and their portraits played an increasingly important part as time passed. At first they were depicted as much smaller than the main figures in the composition and in a subordinate position to the side. However, they gradually increased in size, until by the tenth century they occupied a large proportion of the lowest register of the paintings. In some paintings they are shown as part of the main composition and in the same scale as the holy figures in the paintings.