西域藝術風尚與洛陽中古石刻美術之互動=The Interplay between the Art of the Western Regions and the Chinese Art in the Medieval Period: The Case of the Stone Art in Luoyang
Archaeological research reveals that after the Han Dynasty (202 B.C.E.–220 A.D.), as the art from the Western Regions gradually shifted eastward, China started to accept this influence by assimilating themes and techniques of the ‘Western’ art. Among the stone-carved decorative arts in the Chinese cultural sphere, we find such Western Buddhist elements as the Thousand Buddhas, flying celestials, heavenly music performers, lotus and mythical creatures, as well as Western secular graphic patterns, such as plant-scrolls, bead pattern, honeysuckle pattern, ripple pattern, geometric pattern as well as animal pattern and mythical creature pattern. These elements attest the implantation of the foreign art in the Chinese art. Moreover, these Western elements blend in with the traditional Chinese elements such as the Four Gods or the Twelve Zodiacs, showing the proclivity at the time to mix the South and Central Asian artistic techniques with their Chinese counterparts. This article focuses on the stone art in Luoyang and observes that these artworks are marked by their elaborate details and a sense of gracefulness, which is a reflection of the exotic aesthetics of the Western Regions. Such style has apparently become part of the mainstream artistic style in China, either in religious or secular art, during the Northern and Southern Dynasties (220–589) and the heyday of the Tang Dynasty (618–907). In other words, this style has become mainstream in China. This phenomenon bespeaks the dynamical transition that the Eastern aesthetics underwent, as the regulated and plain style of the Chinese art was challenged by the elaborate and graceful style from the Western Regions.
