Showing
1 - 25 of 194 Records
Disciple, 3D model
- Title Translation: 弟子 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 589-618 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: Expressing serene dignity, these youthful monks stand erect, their eyes downcast and hands firmly joined in reverent prayer. Their long earlobes allude to earrings that were worn by the Buddha as a young Indian prince and to his rejection of material wealth. Characteristic of Sui dynasty sculpture, the monks’ sharply defined facial features and the folds of their robes enhance the figures’ flat, understated modeling. Each of their robes was originally painted with rectangles of different colors, signifying the patchwork mantle worn by the Buddha and by pious monks who emulated his humble values. Only shadowy traces of these pigments are now evident.
589 - 618
Bodhisattva Lotus Pedestal, 3D model
- Title Translation: 菩萨莲花台 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Bodhisattva Head, 3D model
- Title Translation: 菩萨头 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: This head once belonged to a towering bodhisattva who presided over the entrance to the Central Cave at Northern Xiangtangshan. This site, which consists of only three cave temples with colossal figural sculptures, was once strategically located on the route between the capital at Ye and Jinyang, in Shanxi province. At the beginning of the Northern Qi period, it may have been a place for meditation or other Buddhist activities.
550 - 577
Musician Pipa, 3D model
- Title Translation: 琵琶乐伎 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Seated Atlante, 3D model
- Title Translation: 坐男像柱 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Pratyekabuddha Standing, 3D model
- Title Translation: 辟支(缘觉)佛头 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: Statue of Pratyekabuddha made of hard stone, colored and darkened by age. There are traces of dark red and brown paint and slight traces of green and blue on the piece. It is a standing figure, the hands holding a lotus bud, with heavy hands and large neck. The draperies are very massive and simple. The statue has a slightly upturned face with eyes almost closed with long ears and a cap-like arrangement of hair. It has bare feet with no pedesta but there is a tang that extends below the statuel. C113, C150 and C151 are from Cave #2 of the Southern Xiangtangshan. C113 and C151 may not from the same group judging from their different execution.
550 - 577
Bodhisattva Head, 3D model
- Title Translation: 菩萨头 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Bodhisattva Head, 3D model
- Title Translation: 菩萨头 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: This is the head of the bodhisattva Maitreya, who is thought to be waiting in a heaven for the moment when he will be born to become the next Buddha on this earth. The expression on his face is serene as he waits in meditative bliss. Ribbons stream down the sides of his head from the beautifully articulated crown. Heavy earrings pull his earlobes down to his shoulders.
550 - 577
Bodhisattva Seated, 3D model
- Title Translation: 菩萨坐像 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: With beautifully stylized drapery and heavy ornaments, this bodhisattva looks powerful and introspective, seated in a yogic posture of meditation. His right hand is held up in a gesture that means, “Do not be afraid.” His left hand is in the gift-giving gesture. These hand positions simultaneously reassure supplicants and promise them that their pious wishes will be granted.
550 - 577
Buddha Head, 3D model
- Title Translation: 佛头 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: Traces of pigment accentuate the eyebrows, eyes and mouth of this huge head. The hairstyle is typical of the historical Buddha Sakyamuni, with tight curls and the prominent usnisa or topknot. The mark on the forehead, expressing wisdom and openness, originally incorporated an impressive jewel. Once part of a monumental figure in a cave complex, the head would have looked down from high. Its symmetrical composition and serene expression would have inspired Buddhist followers standing below.
550 - 577
Bodhisattva Head, 3D model
- Title Translation: 菩萨头 , 3D 模型
- Period: Tang, 618-907 C.E.
- Project: Tianlongshan Caves
- Work Description: The head is from a bodhisattva on the north (back) wall, west side of the Buddha. The standing figure from which it comes is now in the Rietberg Museum, Zurich.
618 - 907
Flying Divinity, 3D model
- Title Translation: 飞天 , 3D 模型
- Period: Eastern Wei, 534-550 C.E.
- Project: Tianlongshan Caves
- Work Description: As in many cases, the relief carving was broken into fragments when removed from Cave 2 and shows signs of repairs.
534 - 550
Dragon Finial, 3D model
- Title Translation: 龙顶 , 3D 模型
- Period: Eastern Wei, 534-550 C.E.
- Project: Tianlongshan Caves
- Work Description: The head of a dragon is a finial from the top of a column in Cave 2.
534 - 550
Bodhisattva Standing, 3D model
- Title Translation: 立菩萨 , 3D 模型
- Period: Tang, 618-907 C.E.
- Project: Tianlongshan Caves
- Work Description: This figure and the other standing bodhisattva in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art are a pair that once stood on opposite walls of Cave 4.
618 - 907
Buddha Head, 3D model
- Title Translation: 佛头 , 3D 模型
- Period: Sui, 581-618 C.E.
- Project: Tianlongshan Caves
- Work Description: The Buddha head was cut from the south side of the central pillar of Cave 8.
581 - 618
Bodhisattva Head, 3D model
- Title Translation: 菩萨头 , 3D 模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Tianlongshan Caves
- Work Description: This bodhisattva head is believed to be from Cave 16 where many of the bodhisattvas had elaborately decorated crowns. This crown appears to have some damage and restoration.
550 - 577
Bodhisattva Head, 3D model
- Title Translation: 菩萨头 , 3D 模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Tianlongshan Caves
- Work Description: The stone is reddish in color and the carving not typical of known examples from Tianlongshan.
550 - 577
Buddha Head, 3D model
- Title Translation: 佛头 , 3D 模型
- Period: Tang, 618-907 C.E.
- Project: Tianlongshan Caves
- Work Description: This impressive head is from the principle image of Cave 14, the seated Maitreya Buddha on the north wall.
618 - 907
Bodhisattva Head, 3D model
- Title Translation: 菩萨头 , 3D 模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Tianlongshan Caves
- Work Description: This head, in a private collection, is believed to be from the niche on the north wall of Cave 16.
550 - 577
Buddha Head, 3D model
- Title Translation: 佛头 , 3D 模型
- Period: Eastern Wei, 534-550 C.E.
- Project: Tianlongshan Caves
- Work Description: The Buddha head is from the main image on the east wall of Cave 2.
534 - 550
Cave 2
- Title Translation: 第二窟 , 3D模型
- Period: Eastern Wei, 534-550 C.E.
- Project: Tianlongshan Caves
- Work Description: Cave 2 and 3, the paired caves, are believed to be from the Eastern Wei period and are the earliest caves at Tianlongshan. They are located on the eastern side of the Tianlongshan caves site and below the upper level caves. Cave 2 is on the right. The caves are distinctive for the many relief carvings on the walls and ceiling, most of which have been removed.
534 - 550
Bodhisattva Head, 3D model
- Title Translation: 菩萨头 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Monster Squatting, 3D model
- Title Translation: 蹲鬼神 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Musician Sheng, 3D model
- Title Translation: 笙乐伎 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: Simply rounded forms chiseled from gray limestone create this engaging relief of a celestial musician, known as an apsaras in Sanskrit or tianjen in Chinese, depicted playing the sheng. This instrument is a mouth organ consisting of a number of bamboo pipes of different lengths, a pipe for blowing in air, and fingering keyholes.1 The musician gently holds the sheng in both hands, and his closed eyes and beatific expression convey a sense of rapture in its heavenly sounds. Apsarases, usually represented as females, are flying celestials, often musicians or dancers, hovering in attendance to Buddhas and bodhisattvas in paradise scenes. Paradise cults offered Buddhist believers salvation in the form of rebirth into a paradise where attainment of nirvana was easy and certain. The available evidence from the mid-sixth century and later, such as the large relief depicting the Paradise of Amitabha now in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., as well as a number of votive stelae, indicate the rising influence of paradise cults in China at this time.2 By the mid-sixth century, more ascetic ethereal forms with complex cascades of drapery and scarves had shifted to the rounded, more expansive forms defined by closer fitting and simpler garments, as in this example. Xiangtangshan, one of the important early Buddhist cave temple complexes in northern China, which was opened in the mid-sixth century, preserves excellent examples of these later stylistic features. The Xiangtangshan cave temples are believed to have been established by two Northern Qi emperors, both great devotees of the Buddhist religion. These caves temples lie across the frontier of two provinces: the northern group of caves is in Wuan prefecture, Henan province, and the southern group in Zixian prefecture, Hebei province.3 The Shumei musician was probably removed from a wall of the northern temple group at Xiangtangshan. Examples of sculpture from Xiangtangshan are extremely rare outside of China; two more fragmentary relief sculptures are in a private collection in Japan: the head and shoulders of a lute player and a flute player, both of which share stylistic features with the Shumei example.4 ALJ 1. Sheng became visible in tombs at least as early as the Western Han period, with examples preserved in lacquered wood in Tombs 1 and 3 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan province, c. 168 B.C. (see Pirazzoli-t'Serstevens 1982, p. 54). The instrument was also quite common in tombs during the Three Kingdoms-Six Dynasties period. 2. See Pal 1984, pp. 272-73; Wright 1971, p. 59 and n.2; and Davidson 1954, pp. 58-61. The large relief now in the Freer Gallery was probably taken from Cave II of the southern group of Buddhist cave temples at Xiangtangshan and shows remarkable resemblance to composition found at Borobudur (see Soper 1960, p. 95). For an additional Northern Qi example see Shanghai 1996, no. 38. 3. Mizuno and Nagahiro 1937, pp. 1-10. 4. Ibid., introductory essay, pl. 4. Both the fragmentary lute player and the flute player are in the collection of Shoichi Fujiki, Tarazuka, Japan.
550 - 577
Bodhisattva Head, 3D model
- Title Translation: 菩萨头 , 3D模型
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577