The Fresco Arts in Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty

In Sui and Tang Dynasties, China’s strong national power and prosperity of the Silk Road pushed the art of Mogao Grotto to the peak of development.

In Sui and Tang Dynasties, the colored image was still the main worshiping idol in Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang. The style of murals was used to express the contents of religious ideology. Compared with the materials of Northern Dynasties, the sutra painting was the main change in this period. Secondly, the new contents of the stories came to the fore in succession, such as the painting of Buddhist history and Image painting. These great-momentum and splendid murals with various forms and vivid subjects showed the prosperity of the broad and deep Sui and Tang culture.

The paintings of Buddha in the grottoes of Sui Dynasties were mainly in the painting of expounding Buddhist doctrine. In addition, there were three-shi Buddha, three-body Buddha, seven-shi Buddha and thousand Buddha. Compared with those of Northern Dynasties, the number of paintings of expounding Buddhist doctrine increased more. Over 10 paintings, decades of paintings and hundreds of paintings were painted in the same grotto. For example, the wall of No.244 Grotto and No.390 Grotto was divided into the upper, middle and lower sections. The 27 paintings to 115 paintings were arranged. The range of the painting increased accordingly. The Buddha and Bodhisattva in the proportion with actual person were painted in it. In the painting of expounding Buddhist doctrine of No.204 Grotto, No.276 Grotto and No.427 Grotto, Amitabha was painted as the main Buddha and Kwan-yin and Dashizhi Bodhisattva were painted in his two sides. The crystalline pool was painted under him and mandarin duck, fairy crane and Huashen Boy were in the water. These images were close to the sutra paintings of Tang Dynasty and later dynasties. In the murals of Late Northern Dynasties, we could see the more original form. So, some scholars thought that the sutra painting developed gradually from the painting of expounding Buddhist doctrine.

The development of murals in Sui Dynasty was short, but the miti and shuti obviously existed in the style of painting. The miti meant drawing with the exquisite vigor of style, and the story paintings of No.419 Grotto and No.420 Grotto were the magnum opus of this style. The Gautama jataka funnies were painted in the pedestal of central pillar of No.427 Grotto, and the painting plane was exquisite and the structure was compact and cadet. It had abundant colors; besides wine, green, blue, white, black and 花青, the vermilion, azurite, 石绿and golden foil were used in it to form the thick reality. The paintings of miti style existed in some thousand Buddha and pictures in the grottoes. Famous Paintings in Various Dynasties written by Zhang Yanyuan recorded Fahuabian painted by the famous painter of Sui Dynasty Zhan Ziqian and Maitrega Bian painted by Dong Boren. Both of the above paintings were the Buddhist sutra paintings. The characters and other high buildings in the paintings were unique. When talking about the style of painting, both painters’ skills were exquisite and it was the style of miti. The miti was popular in the painting field in Sui Dynasty. This style must be spread to other areas all over the country. Moreover, the mural art of miti in Dunhuang in Sui Dynasty came into being in the influence of these arts in that period.

Another style popular in Mogao Grottoes in Sui Dynasty was Suti. It was famous for conciseness and forthrightness. Most shuti used the wine lines to draw the draft, and the colors included black, white, blue, green and花青. The tone was simple and unadorned. Many paintings of expounding Buddhist doctrine were used this painting skill. For example, Vemogy image in the northern side of the front niche of No.276 Grotto was decorated with tinge and the character was painted in line drawing. The changeful wine line was used to paint successfully a mettle and smart superior. The style of shuti came down in one continuous line with the murals of Late Northern Dynasties. So, the new style of concise and simple murals had the local characteristic and the time spirit of unification.

The grand sutra paintings of Mogao Grottoes in Tang Dynasty reflected the prosperity of Tang Dynasty and the young time spirit. In addition, the material subjects of using religious ideology to guide the believers were the Buddhist historical painting and Image painting. We will narrate the three sections of the contents in the later, and we wanted to introduce Buddha image painting and decorated picture of Tang Dynasty.

In Mogao Grottoes of Tang Dynasty, large and small paintings of expounding Buddhist doctrine were painted. Buddha, prentices, Bodhisattvas, god who protects the Buddhism, dragon king, Asura king, Vajra and Hercules and flying fairy were in the paintings. The scene was large and the characters increased. In addition, the one-body Buddha and Bodhisattva image were painted, and Kwan-yin and Dashizhi Bodhisattva were separated from the sutra painting to be painted solely in some grottoes. The two Bodhisattvas became the incarnation that people wanted to seek for vimukta in the real tribulation and placed good hopes. There was a painting of eudipleural Samantabhadra and Manjusri, and it was always painted in the both sides of the front niche. For example, in No.331 Grotto, Manjusri is riding the lion and Samantabhadra is riding the white elephant. The flying fairies are supporting the beasts’ feet and the celestial beings are playing music. In No.159 Grotto, Samantabhadra and Manjusri are flying across the sky over the rivers and seas, and form a parade surrounded by many celestial beings. It showed that the believers intensified increasingly the respect to Bodhisattvas.

The single-body Buddha and Bodhisattva images began to reduce gradually after Tubo period. The material subjects that could be seen included 药师佛, 四方Buddha, Kwan-yin, Dashizhi and Ksitigarbha. Another kind of Buddhist image paintings increased quickly and it was the special Buddhist branch—joss painting.

Because most of the grottoes of Tang Dynasty in Mogao Grottoes were Buddhist Hall Grottoes with filler-shape ceiling, the murals’ pictures were painted in the embellishing well of the ceiling, four walls, niche brim, decoration in image’s back and sutra stories, and buildings, clothes and instruments of the painting. The lotus rolling grass and circle flowers were the main pictures. In addition, there were some geometry vines, animals’ veins that were used to express the luck and happiness. During almost 300 years of Tang Dynasty, these pictures were painted in over 200 grottoes. The value of these pictures was not only to decorate Buddhist Hall but also to show the history of decoration in Tang Dynasty.

The embellishing well of the grottoes in Tang Dynasty were painted the style of Buddhist covers. They were hung in the center of the ceiling. They showed the magnificence and solemnity. The center of the embellishing well heaved and the all sides expanded along the slopes, and finally they formed a square. The lotus and circle flowers were painted in the center, and some set off the blue sky. The sides were decorated with the layer upon layer lace. The outer layer was hanging curtain to show the umbrella cover and the arranged colorful rings and belts were decorated in the brim. In the center of embellishing well of No.329 Grotto, the blue sky, cloud drift and flying fairy made the ceiling full of dazzling shine and moving rhythm. For example, in the embellishing well of the No.320 Grotto, the colorful edging was painted to emphasize the ceiling’s solemnity and neat formation. After tubo ruling Dunhuang, the edging of the embellishing well increased. Some were added the revolving lotus in the center of the embellishing well; parrot, peacock and dove are flying and singing; the edging included the green fret rich in third dimension. It broke up baldachin’s plane sense and increased the new style to the decorated picture in Late Tang Dynasty.

The edging of all sides of the grotto had the effect of decoration and intensified the stability of the building. The rolling grass veins were the lace pictures that were used more. The rhombus-shape veins, leafy squama-shape veins and the circle veins decorated in the brim of the niche were used in some grottoes to intensify the solemnity. Tied in colorful images and murals inside the murals, the magnificent rolling grass intensified the sense of affluence in the believers’ mind.

The ring of light painted in the back of the Buddhist images was a holy token. According to different status of Buddha, prentices and Bodhisattvas, the artists in Dunhuang of Tang Dynasty used different decorative pictures. The neck light of Buddha was often used circle flower and peachy lotus veins, and his back light was used rolling veins; the neck light of prentices was used circle flower; the neck light of Bodhisattvas was used rolling veins, circle flowers and peachy lotus veins. So, the image of Bodhisattva was honorable and magnificent; the image of prentice was modest and prudent; and the image of Buddha was worshipful and magnified.

The murals of Mogao Grottoes in Tang Dynasty were luxury and gaudy. The Chinese traditional line drawing became abundance. The characters of murals of Early Tang and Flourishing Tang were healthy, magnificent and perky. The shape of some murals had special charm. So, the orchid with round handwriting and changed lines were used to describe the veins of clothes and to show the lightness and flaunt of the silk. The lines of Middle Tang and Late Tang advocated flowage and elegance to paint the handsome images of characters. In addition, the handwriting style was often changed according to the requirement of modeling characters. For describing the images of Buddha and Bodhisattva, the vigorous lines were used to form the fleshy image and show the expression of sobriety. For showing the Ahriman such as Vajra, Hercules and apparition and their ferociousness, based on the bushy brows and physique, the change of the muscle could be given prominence. The thick lines were used to add their power and boldness. The prentice of Sakyamuni Anan was a handsome and smart young man. The thin mellow line drawing was used to show the delicate features of fleshy face.

The murals of Mogao Grottoes in Tang Dynasty paid more attention to the beauty of the color and tone. Besides using contradistinctive colors, there were many symphonious colors. The colors included cyan, green, vermilion, silvery vermilion, ochre, red, indigo, white, gold foil and ink. The skills of putting color and applying colors to a drawing were highly skillful. For murals of Mogao Grottoes, it was a splendid age. The painters of Tang Dynasty had originality in choosing the colors. They used red color to paint the ground and covered thick colors; some of them used soft tone. The vivid tone showed the fresh colors to people. The color effects of murals in the grottoes were decided by the color of the ground. The practice of painters in Tang Dynasty was successful.

The brushwork of congruence was used in portraiture of Tang Dynasty. Using the different chrome of the same color to dyeing cascade. This skill had the third dimension and clear colors. For showing the third dimension of man’s skin, the painters often used some skill to show the smooth face. Some painters painted the red in the faces of the characters to show their health. Besides images of Buddha and Bodhisattva, the images of gods, Hercules and Arhat had the third dimension with blue veins and muscle. And it was the achievement of expertly using the skill of colors. In addition, for the clothes in the murals, such as plaits of the clothes, lotus throne out of the water surface, water lily in bud and the roll-up rosy clouds, showed the soft sense of reality, design and color, and wispy change of actual condition. The images of the characters were more realistic and the hazy scene was more mysterious.

When describing a character, the mural of Tang Dynasty paid more attention to drawing eyes. Based on the actual experience and observe of the artists, the daedal eyes’ expression showed the complicated feeling in the minds and delicate expression such as happiness, thought, kindness, anger and sorrow. The images of the true-life maharaja, aristocrat, officials, generals, imperial concubines and senior monks were the chief source of the painters. And then, the spirit of the Buddhist characters were reflected by unreligious thoughts and feeling. At the same time, the religious characters were different from the mortal and they were used to guide the believers’ respectful minds of Buddhism. So the images of the murals consisted of hyperbole and abstraction. For purpose of increasing the mystery of the Buddhist characters, the feeling of characters was mainly exaggerated.

The murals of Mogao Grottoes in Tang Dynasty really showed the achievement of painting. The lifelike religious characters had even charmed amount of pious believers, caused their infinite imagination of Buddhism, and firmed the hope of arriving at Elysium. The abundant art treasure was the elites of Chinese excellent paintings and it could bring us to a fascinating art field.

Translated by Beijing Star-light Translation Center
Compiled by Historical Department of www.travel-silkroad.com
February 12th, 2001