Cave 3 at the Yulin Grottoes was constructed in the late middle Western Xia Dynasty. The unique format in architectural structure and richness in contents especially the delicate wall paintings contribute to its high significance in Dunhuang Grottoes group.
The 51-faced Guanyin Bodhisattva (Bodhisattva of Mercy) with thousand hands and thousand eyes is illustrated on the south side of the east wall. The whole depiction is 3.7m high and 2.2m wide, taking up an area of 8.14 square meters. The image of Guanyin presents fifty-one faces in such an overlapping arrangement in ten layers as a pagoda. Thousand eyes and thousand hands here indicate very many eyes and hands instead of specific number. Thousand hands suggest limitless supernatural power; thousand eyes, endless wisdom. Many utensils are depicted to symbolize Guanyin's hands. Totally 166 kinds of utensils are represented in the scene, which are in symmetrical distribution on both sides of Guanyin Bodhisattva. Amongst, 41 utensils in hands are depicted according to sutra, while the others according to living scenes in the Western Xia Dynasty, such as human figures, animals, plants, architectures, vehicles, productive implements, musical instruments, measures, weapons, and other Buddhist instruments.
The most realistic depictions in the whole illustration are scenes of cattle-ploughing tiller, iron smith, and brewers, which reflect the production and living realities of the Western Xia society.
The illustration of the 51-faced Guanyin Bodhisattva with thousand hands and thousand eyes in cave 3 at Yulin is comprehensive, most richly endowed and unparalleled among all illustrations of sutras. Its surpassing Buddhist iconographic rituals not only displays the creation of the Western Xia painters but also manifests the valuable historical and artistic significances. Moreover, the whole image is painted in cold and simple color, similar to line drawing portrait.
The north side of the west wall represents an illustration of Manjusri Bodhisattva, which is a representative painting of its kind in Dunhuang Grottoes in terms of either painting skills or artistic value, reflecting the Buddhist artistic attainment of the Western Xia period.
Far behind the image of Manjusri is a mountainous landscape, which represents Mountain Qingliang (Mountain Cool) or Mountain Wutai in legend where Manjusri practices Buddhist rituals, as according to Huayan Sutra. In the landscape, grotesque ridges and peaks stand out amidst thin mist halfway, age-old temples are half visible from dingles and rainbow, and a ray of auspicious light is shining from a cave out of the mountain, all looks mystical and tranquil. Grand mountains and water represent the highest attainment of landscape painting during this period. Besides, the composition of the whole landscape painting employs scattering perspective method, which is traditional of Chinese painting. Human figures and scenes from different angles are naturally displayed in the same plane and space; it is true that a few inches of picture highlight the scenes of a thousand miles.
In the aspect of painting technique, configurative function and artistic effect of line drawing are emphasised for the whole depiction. Coloring is simple and concise, multiple coloring is slightly used, while line drawing on plain white grounding are highlighted, producing an effect of magnificence out of elegant coolness. Line drawing techniques employed in this illustration include iron-hard line to produce full and flexible figure; twisted-reed line to represent angular folding of garments; orchid-leaf line which is stretching and rich in variety; flowing-water line which looks silkily smooth and delicate; and gossamer line to depict raising and flying of hair. All the diverse lines are clear and fluent, contributing to a masterpiece of ancient mountainous landscape painting. |
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