TIME AND SPACE IN CHINESE NARRATIVE PAINTINGS OF HAN AND THE SIX DYNASTIES
Pao-chen Chen
Time and Space in Chinese Culture
1995, pp. 239-285
p. 239
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
The rise of Chinese narrative painting began in
the Han dynasty (207 B.C.-A.D. 220). Famous examples
include two murals from Tomb No. 61 in Lo-yang 洛陽
(datable to 48-7 B.C.), one mural from a Han
official's tomb in Ho-lin-ko-erh 和林格爾 (datable to
A.D. 160s-170s), and many stone engravings from the
Wu Liang Shrine 武梁祠 in Shantung (dated A.D. 151).
In these paintings, the representations of
characters, plots, and settings are simple; figures
are almost always shown acting against a blank
background in a limited number of scenes; the
temporal progression is unclear; and the definition
of space is ambiguous.
In sharp contrast, the narrative paintings of the
Six Dynasties demonstrate dramatic changes. The best
examples are the Buddhist narrative paintings in the
Tun-huang caves. As we shall see, in those paintings
the representations of characters, plots, and
settings are much more complicated, and the
definitions of time and space become increasingly
clearer and more specific than those found in the Han
paintings.
In this paper, I attempt to characterize various
devices for the representations of time and space in
narrative paintings from Han to the Six Dynasties in
the light of their varied cultural backgrounds.
Owing to a limit in space provided here, this
paper will not include two important narrative
handscrolls attributed to Ku K'ai- chih 顧愷之
(345-406): Admonitions of the Instructress to the
Court Ladies (Nu-shih chen t'u 女史箴圖 ) and The
Goddess of the Lo River (Lo-shen fu t'u 洛神賦圖 ).
For a detailed discussion on the problems of these
two scrolls, please see my dissertation, "The Goddess
of the Lo River: A Study of Early Chinese Narrative
Handscrolls, " Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton
University, 1987, chapter 2, pp. 53-109. The main
idea of the present paper, however, is derived from
that of chapter three (pp. 110-189) of my
dissertation just mentioned.
p. 240
Here I wish to express my appreciation to Richard
K. Kent for his kindness in editing my manuscript and
to Mr. Pai Shih-ming 白適銘 for his patience in
helping me to prepare the drawings for illustrations.
NARRATIVE PAINTINGS OF THE HAN PERIOD
Han narrative paintings are naive in narrative
technique, ambiguous in temporal progression, and
simple in spatial representation. According to my
observations on archaeological finds, their
compositions are of three types: simultaneous
(T'ung-fa shih kou-t'u 同發或構圖 ), monoscenic
(Tan-ching shih kou-t'u 單景式構圖 ), and continuous
(Lien-hsu shih kou-t'u 連續式構圖 ). No evidence
shows that these three types of composition evolved
in sequence. Instead, they developed independently
and show their own limits in representing time and
space for a narrative. A detailed discussion follows.
Simultaneous composition
A simultaneous composition pictorially summarizes
a story into one scene, in which figures appear only
once; their actions and attributes indicate various
incidents that occur in different time periods.(1)
The best example is Ching K Assassinating the King of
Ch 'in (Ching K'o tz'u Ch 'in-wang 荊軻刺秦王 )
engraved on a stone slab in the Wu Liang Shrine (pl.
1).(2)
This narrative is based on Ching K'o's biography
recorded in The Historical Records (Shih-chi 史記
).(3) According to the text, Ching K'o (d. 227 B.C.)
was a guest of Prince Tan (d. 225 B.C.) of Yen in the
Hopei area, which was seriously threatened by Ch'in,
a powerful tyranny in Shensi. In 227 B.C. Fan Yu-ch'i
樊於其 (d. 227 B.C.), a Ch'in general, fled his own
country and sought
----------------------
1. For more about its definition and pictorial
examples, see Kurt Weitzmann, Illustrations in
Roll and Codex, A Study of the Origin and Method
of Text Illustration (Princeton, New Jersey:
Princeton University Press, 1970), pp. 13-14.
2. There is a second stone relief showing the same
story also found in the Wu Liang Shrine; and a
third one with a similar composition is found in
Szechwan.
3. Ssu-ma Ch'ien, Shih-chi, Po-na-pen erh-shih-ssu-
shih 百衲本二十四史, vol. 2, ch. 86, pp. 915-24.
p. 241
political refuge in Yen. To punish the Yen state, the
Ch'in tyrant, Cheng 政 (r.246-210 B.C.), who was to
become the First Emperor of the Ch'in dynasty,
demanded that both the general's head and a map of
the Tu 都 and K'ang 亢 areas of Yen territory be sent
to him. To save the prince from trouble, General Fan
agreed to offer up his life and head. Ching K'o
volunteered to deliver the general's head, the
required map, and to assassinate the tyrant at the
same time. What happened next is represented in the
following picture.
Accompanied by Ch'in Wu-yang 秦舞陽 (d. 227
B.C.), who carried General Fan's head in a box, Ching
K'o brought the rolled up map into the Ch'in court,
which is suggested by a column in the center of the
composition. Inside the roll, he hid a dagger with
which he hoped to fulfil his mission. But Ching K'o
never got the chance, because the tyrant was alerted
when he noticed Ch'in Wu-yang shaking nervously as he
presented the box containing General Fan's head.
After the Ch'in ruler had examined the head, which is
seen in an open box on the ground to the right of the
column, Ching E;'o began to unroll the map. As soon
as had he reached the hidden dagger he seized the
tyrant's sleeve. The tyrant thereupon leaped to his
feet, fleeing so desperately that he left in Ching
K'o's grasp part of a torn sleeve, which is
represented floating in the space near the column. In
his great panic, the tyrant forgot how to unshield
his long sword to defend himself; instead, he ran in
circles around a post and Ching K'o chased behind.
Everybody was astounded: Ch'in Wu-yang was so scared
that he prostrated himself on the floor shivering, as
seen in the space to the upper right of the column;
while the tyrant's guards, forbidden an access to the
ruler without his command, stood helplessly in their
usual array along two palace hallways. Finally, after
being reminded by a guard, the tyrant pulled out his
sword properly, which is seen in the upper left side
of the column. At the same time, Ching K'o was pulled
away by a guard, as shown in the upper right side of
the column. There when realizing his mission was
going to fail, the hero is overwhelmed by fury: his
hair stands up, his mouth opens widely, he leaps up
into the air, and he uses all his energy to hurl his
dagger, which unfortunately misses its target and
penetrates the column, as seen in the center of the
composition. The assassination thus failed, and Ching
K'o was killed.
In a simultaneous composition, this Ching K'o
picture shows
p. 242
only the climax of the story. The temporal
progression is represented in five stages, each
suggested by one object or one figure. In
chronological order, they develop from bottom to top,
then from left to right, and terminate in the middle,
as we have seen. All the figures and objects are
shown in silhouette against a blank background. No
spatial depth is represented. Once this narrative
method and iconography had been established,(4) it
became a pictorial convention and spread as far as
the Szechwan area.(5) But, lacking a decipherable
temporal progression, a narrative con-
----------------------------
4. Whether the iconography of Ching K'o in the Wu
Liang Shrine was an original design by a local
artist at Chia-hsiang 嘉祥, or whether it was
based on an established model remains unclear.
According to Hsing I-t'ien 邢義田, there were
iconographical models (t'u-p"u 圖譜 ) and
copybooks (fen-pen 粉本 ) for figure paintings in
the Eastern Han period. There were iconographical
models for depicting Confucius' disciples
(Kung-tzu t'u-jen fa 孔子徒人法 ), and those for
depicting virtuous women and filial sons in
history (lieh-nu chuan 列女傳, hsiao-tzu chuan 孝
子傳 ) which were designed by Liu Hsiang 劉向. For
references, see Hsing I- t'ien, "Han-tai pi-hua te
fa-chan han pi-hua mu 漢代壁畫的發展和壁畫墓 (The
develop ment of wall paintings and mural-decorated
tombs in the Han period), The Bulletin of History
and Philology, Academia Sinica (March, 1986), vol.
57, pt. 1. pp. 156- 59, see also his article,
"Han-tai Kung-tzu chien Lao-tzu te kou-ch'eng chi
ch'i tsai she- hui ssu-hsiang shih shang te i-i 漢
代孔子見老子的構成及其在社會、 思想史上的意義 (The
Han representations of 'Confucius meeting with
Lao-tzu' and its significance in the social and
intellectual history)," unpublished paper (1990),
pp. 9, 42-47.
5. This compositional formula apparently was used
throughout much of the empire during the Han
dynasty. In the Wu Family Shrine there is a second
stone relief with a similar composition although
the locations of the figures are slightly
modified: Ching K'o is shifted from right to left,
Ch'in Shih-huang, from left to right, and Ch'in
Wu-yang's prostration at the top has become a
recumbent position in the lower right corner. In
the third example found in Szechwan the
composition remains similar to the one that we
have just discussed here, but the iconography is
different. The Szechwan picture focuses on the
dynamic movements of Ching K'o and the Ch'in
tyrant on both sides of a central post; and Ch'in
Wu- yang's prostration before General Fan's head
is again moved to the lower right corner of the
scene; in addition to this, two guards are seen
running away toward the left end of the picture.
For these two plates, see Edouard Chavannes,
Mission Archiologique dans la Chine Septentrionale
(Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1909), planches, No.
123; Richard C. Rudolph and Wen Yu, Han Tomb Art
of West-China-- A Collection
o/First-and-second-century Reliefs (Berkeley and
Los Angeles: University of California Press,
1951), pls. 15-16; Wen Yu 聞宥, Ssu-ch'uan Han tai
hua-hsiang shih hsuan chi 四川漢代畫像石選集
(Selections of stone and brick engravings of the
Han period as found in Szechwan) (Shanghai:
Chun-lien ch'u-pan-che, 1955), pl. 55. For more
information about the Wu Liang Shrine, see Jung
Keng 容庚, Han Wu Liang tz'u hua-hsiang lu 漢武梁
祠畫象錄 (Catalogue of stone engravings in the Wu
Liang Shrine of the Han period) (Peking: Yen-ching
University, 1936), 2 vols; see also Wilma
Fairbank, Adventures in Retrieval,
Harvard-Yenching Institute Series 28 (Cambridge,
Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1972),
chapter 2, pp 41-86. See also Wu Hung, The Wu
Liang shrine--the Ideology of Early Chinese Picto-
rial Art (Stanford, California: Stanford
University Press, 1989).
p. 243
veyed by a simultaneous composition like this one is
hard to read, unless the viewer already knows the
story. Other Han artists, wishing to create more
specific temporal and spatial backgrounds for their
narratives, turned to monoscenic and continuous
compositions.
Monoscenic composition
A monoscenic composition shows certain
characters' actions in a frozen moment.(6) The
Banquet at Hung-men (Hung-men-yen 鴻門宴 ) in Tomb
no. 61 at Lo-yang, datable to 48-7 B.C., reveals the
Han artist's familiarity with this compositional
technique (pl. 2).(7) A well-known story recorded in
the Shih-chi, it tells how Hsiang Yu 項羽 (232-202
B.C.) plotted but failed to kill Liu Pang 劉邦
(247-195 B.C.) during a banquet at Hung-men in 206
B.C.; the two were military rivals who were competing
for the throne upon the downfall of the Ch'in empire.
Liu Pang, less powerful yet faster than Hsiang Yu,
had already occupied the Ch'in capital, Hsien-yang 咸
陽 (near modern Hsi-an 西安 ), when Hsiang Yu and his
army arrived at nearby Hung-men. Hsiang encamped his
army at Hung-men, and invited Liu Pang to a banquet
in his camp, where Liu's murder was planned by Fan
Chen 范增 (d. 204 B.C.), Hsiang's military
consultant. In deference to Hsiang's threatening
power, Liu Pang came to the banquet with his
assistants, including Chang Liang 張良 (d. 189 B.C.)
and Fan K'uei 樊噲. During the banquet, Hsiang Chuang
項莊 was ordered to demonstrate a sword dance, during
which he was to kill Liu Pang purportedly by
accident. But Hsiang Chuang failed to carry out this
stratagem, because Hsiang Po 項伯 purposely used his
own body to protect
----------------------
6. Sometimes a narrative cycle is represented with
numerous single scenes, called "multiple
monoscenic/episodic composition." For more
discussion of this problem, see Kurt Weitzmann,
Illustrations in Roll and Codex, A study of the
Origin and Method of Text Illustration, pp. 14-17.
This compositional device was widely used in
narrative handscrolls. The best and early example
is the Admonitions scroll attributed to Ku
K'ai-chih. For a reference to a detailed
discussion of the scroll, see my introductory
remarks of this paper.
7. Kuo Mo-jo, "Lo-yang Han mu pi-hua shih t'an 洛陽漢
墓壁畫試探 (A preliminary study of the Han wall
paintings from Lo-yang)," K'ao-ku hsueh-pao 考古學
報 2 (1964), pp. 107-125. Yu Ying-shih 余英時,
however, does not agree that the scene is about
the "Banquet at Hung-men": see his article "Shuo
Hung-men yen te tso-tz'u 說鴻門宴的坐次 (On the
seats in the Banquet at Hung-men)" in his
Shih-hsueh yu ch'uan-t'ung 史學與傳統
(Historiography and tradition) in Shih-pao shu-hsu
時報書序, vol. 336 (Taipei: Shih-pao ch'u-pan
shih-yen kung-ssu, 1982), pp. 184-95.
p. 244
Liu Pang throughout the dance. Eventually Liu Pang
returned safely to his own base, all the while
protected by his assistants.(8)
This story is illustrated in a monoscenic
composition on a trapezoidal lintel under the gable
of the central partition of Tomb No, 61, Conflating
the banquet participants' different actions into a
single moment, the picture shows two groups of
figures on both sides of a bear-like tomb guardian
(fang-hsiang 方相 / ch'iang-liang 彊良 ). The mood or
atmosphere conveyed by the two groups is markedly
different, The right groups shows two cooks
barbecuing at the fire, and Hsiang Yu holding a
horn-shaped wine-jar toasting Liu Pang, who is
protected by Hsiang Po on his left, The atmosphere
looks cozy, relaxed, and cheerful, In contrast,
tension, anxiety, and danger fill the air of the left
section, containing Chang Liang, Fan Chen, and Hsiang
Chuang. Chang Liang, noted for his elegant
appearance, stands to the left of Fan Chen; both are
portrayed with stony facial expressions and have
stiff poses. General Hsiang Chuang, on the other
hand, looks agitated; his eyes are depicted opened
widely, and his hand holds a sword pointing toward
Liu Pang in the distance. There is no temporal
progression between the right and left sections, Thus
the painting may be regarded as a dramatization of
the main participants' actions at one frozen moment
during Hsiang Chuang's sword performance. To the
artist, this is the most critical moment of the
party; and he bases his imaginative representation of
this moment on his thorough knowledge of the text.
Continuous composition
A continuous composition depicts a narrative
cycle in consecutive scenes, which are woven into one
organic entity with a clear sense of continuity in
time and space. Temporal progression is indicated by
the recurrence of certain figures, sometimes in
different settings, sometimes against the same
background. Through such a compositional device, the
continuous pictorial flow of a narrative can be
represented more articulately. Han artists used it in
at least two murals: Two Peaches Killing Three
Warriors (Erh t'ao sha san shih 二桃殺三士 ), also
found in Tomb No. 61 at Lo-yang (pl. 3); and
Processions of a Han Official in a tomb at
Ho-lin-ko-erh, datable to A.D. 160s-170s (pl. 4).
Recorded in The Spring and Autumn of Master Yen
(Yen-tzu ch'un-
----------------------
8. Ssu-ma Ch'ien, "Hsiang Yu pen-chi 項羽本紀 (The
biography of Hsiang Yu)," Shih-chi, Po-na-pe erh-
shih-ssu-shih, vol.I, pp.138-55.
p. 245
ch'iu 晏子春秋 ), the Two Peaches Killing Three
Warriors represents the story of how Yen-tzu 晏子 (d.
500 B.C.), the Prime minister of Ch'i 齊 , hatched a
clever plot to kill the three most powerful state
warriors, Kung-sun Chieh 公孫接, T'ien K'ai-chiang 田
開彊 and Ku Yeh-tzu 古冶子, by using two peaches.
Robust and muscular, these three warriors once had
offended the Prime Minister noted for his small size.
Long harboring his anger and hatred, Yen-tzu
persuaded Duke Ching of Ch'i 齊景公 (547-489 B.C.) to
kill them for their arrogance by having two peaches
sent to honor whichever two of the warriors
considered themselves bravest among the three.
Kung-sun Chieh and T'ien K'ai-chiang, thinking they
each deserved a peach, both rushed forward to claim
one. But Ku Yeh- tzu condemned their shamelessness
and boasted of his own incomparable record of
bravery. On hearing this, both Kung-sun Chieh and
T'ie K'ai-chiang were so ashamed that they killed
themselves by their own swords. Beholding this, Ku
Yeh-tzu was so wracked with guilt for having caused
his comrades' suicide that he too killed himself.
This story is represented in three consecutive
sections from left to right on the back of the lintel
where the Banquet at Hung-men is shown. The left
section alludes to the episode of the warriors
humiliating the Prime minister. Here Yen-tzu appears
dwarfed small as a child, and is flanked by two
strong men talking to him.(9) In the middle section,
the diminutive Yen-tzu reappears; here he is shown
revealing his plot to Duke Ching, who is accompanied
by two senior officials identified by the
"pigeon-headed staffs (chiu chang 鳩杖 )" that they
hold. The right section shows the disastrous ending
of the story, including the marquis' messenger, who
holds a tasseled stick in his hand, two peaches on a
plate on a table, and three warriors in dramatic
poses. The warrior on the left steps forward to take
a peach for himself, while the two others hold swords
horizontally to their throats, preparing to kill
themselves.
------------------------------
9. There are different interpretations to this scene.
Hsing I-t'ien takes it as Confucius Meeting with
Lao-tzu, see his article. "Han-tai Kung-tzu chien
Lao-tzu te kou-ch 'eng chi ch 'i tsai she-hui
ssu-hsiang shih shang te i-i," (op. cit.), P. 12.
Jonathan Chaves reads it as Chou-kung fu
Ch'eng-wang 周公輔成王 (Duke Chou assisting King
Ch'eng), and regards this section as irrelevant to
the other two on its right, as seen in his
article. "A Han Painted Tomb at Lo-yang," Artibus
Asiae 30 (1968), pp. 5-27. Kuo Mo-jo regards it as
part of the Yen-tzu narrative. see his article,
"Lo-yang Han mu pi-hua shih t'an," (op. cit.), pp.
1-2. The iconographic consistency between the two
short figures that appear in this section and
reappear in the one on its right satisfactorily
convinces me that this section should be
considered as part of the story.
p. 246
All on the same register, these figures stand out
against a blank background. Neither spatial depth nor
three-dimendionality of the figures is represented.
Narrative continuity relies on the reappearance of
the same figures in consecutive scenes.
An identical compositional device is seen in the
mural of Processions of a Han Official, found in a
Han tomb at Ho-lin-ko-erh (pl. 4). Covering the upper
walls above four vaulted doors in the front tomb
chamber facing east, the mural shows six processions
of an anonymous Han official. These processions
illustrate important events in his career, which must
have been recorded in his epitaph that is no longer
extant. They can be grouped into two units in
chronological sequence. The first unit includes five
processions going counterclockwise, starting in the
west, passing through the south, and terminating in
the middle of the east wall, One after another, these
processions are identified by five cartouches,
reading "Elected Filial and Incorruptible Official
(Chu-hsiao-lien 舉孝廉 )," "Imperial Guard (Lang 郎
)," "The Governor of Hsi-ho (Hsi-ho ch'ang-shih 西河
長史 )" (all on the west wall), "Acting General of
the Major County of a Subject State (Hsing shang-chun
shu-kuo tu-wei 行上郡屬國都尉 )" (on the south wall),
and "The Governor of Fan-yang (Fan-yang ling 繁陽令
)" (on the south end of the east wall). Present in
each procession, the official reappears five times in
this unit.
The second unit comprises only one long
procession, also running counterclockwise, from the
middle of the east wall, over the north wall, and
terminating at the north end of the west wall, where
it meets the beginning of the first unit, In this
unit, the official appears only once in a horse-drawn
carriage, which is specified by a cartouche reading,
"Conferred by Imperial Edict to be the Military
Supervisor at Wu-huan (Shih ch'ih chieh Wu-huan
hsiao- wei 使持節烏桓校尉 )," located on the west end
of the north wall, His subordinate officials
preceding him are identified by the carrtouches: "The
Governor of Yen-men (Yen-men ch'ang-shih 雁門長史 ),"
"Milirary Supervisor of?? (?-? hsiao-wei?? 校尉 ),"
(both on the east wall), "Attendant to Merit
Evaluator (Kang-ch'ao ts'ung- shih 功曹從事 )," and
"Member of the Mounted Escort (Pieh-chia ts'ung-shih
別駕從事 ) " (both on the north wall).(10)
----------------------
10. For an English reference to this tomb, see Annel-
iese Gutkind Bulling, "The Eastern Han Tomb at Ho-
lin-ko-erh (Holingol)," Archives of Asian Art 31
(1977- 78). pp. 79-103.
p. 247
Compared with other Han narrative paintings,
noted for their simple narrative content and compact
composition, this Ho-lin- ko-erh mural stands out as
unusual because it is characterized by complicated
figure groupings and a large composition. Such a
lengthy pictorial record of a deceased official's
life betrays its adoption of Buddhist narrative
devices used in illustrations of jatakas and the life
of the Buddha. It is highly probable that such
illustrations would have been known to the
Ho-lin-ko-erh artist(s), since Buddhist subject
matter has often been found represented in different
media from around this period in China.(11)
Development of Narrative Paintings in the Six
Dynasties
The appearance and circulation of Buddhist
narrative paintings had a profound influence on
Chinese artists of the Six Dynasties period. As seen
in the Tun-huang wall paintings of this period.
Buddhist narrative paintings exerted a powerful
influence on the development of Chinese narrative
techniques and figural representations. Thematically,
Tun-huang Buddhist narrative paintings of this period
can be grouped into three major categories: 1) the
life of the Buddha (Fo-chuan t'u 佛傳圖 ), a
pictorial biography of Prince Siddhartha from his
birth to his attainment of Buddhahood; 2) the jatakas
(pen-sheng t'an 本生譚 ), stories of Sakyamuni
Buddha's self-sacrifices in his previous
incarnations; and 3) the avadanas (p'i-yu p'in 譬喻品
), the conversion stories of Buddhist
----------------------
11. This assumption is strongly supported by a picture
showing an immortal on a white elephant, on the
upper right of the west wall of the central
chamber of the Ho-lin-ko-erh tomb. This figure
clearly represents the artist's transformation of
a Buddhist icon into a Chinese Taoist image. For
the plate, see Nei Meng-ku tzu-chih-ch'u
po-wu-kuan wen-wu kung-tso tui 內蒙古自治區博物館
文物工作隊 ed., Ho- lin-ko-erh Han mu Pi-hua 和林
格爾漢墓壁畫 (Wall paintings in a Han tomb found
at Ho-lin-ko-erh) (Peking: Wen-wu ch'u-pan-she,
1978), fig. 40, p.26; Yu Wei-ch'ao 俞偉超,
"Tung-han Fo-chiao t'u-hsiang k'ao 東漢佛教圖像考
(Examination on the Buddhist images in the Eastern
Han period)," Wen-wu 5 (1980), pp. 68-77. At the
end of the Han period, Buddhist icons were, more
often than not, represented in different media,
such as stone relief in Szechwan tomb chambers,
and bronze mirrors found at Shao-hsing 紹興 in
Che-kiang. For references, see Wu Hung, "Buddhist
Elements in Early Chinese Art," Artibus Asiae
(1986), vol. 47, pp. 263-376; Mizuno Seiichi 水野
清一 and Nagahiro Toshio 長廣敏雄, "Unko izen no
zozo 雲崗以前ソ造像 (Buddhist images prior to the
Yun-kang caves, in Unko sekikutsu 雲崗石窟
(Yun-kang, the Buddhist cave-temple of the fifth
century A.D. in north China) (Kyoto: Jimbungaku
Kenkyujo, Kyoto University, 1953), vol. 11, Pl. 2.
pp. 1-18.
p. 248
disciples.(12) Most of the narrative paintings of
this period are represented in continuous
compositions, in which characters reappear in
different scenes on different occasions, According to
my observations, Chinese artists by the mid-sixth
century had experimented with at least four types of
continuous compositions: 1) different actions sharing
a common background (I-shih t'ung- ching-shih kou-t'u
異時同景式構圖 ); 2) continuous narration in
serpentine layout (I shih-chien shun-hsu te
ch'u-che-shih kou-t'u 依時間順序的曲折式構圖 ); 3)
achronological narration in a lateral layout (Pu i
shih-chien shun-hsu te heng-hsiang-shih kou-t'u 不依
時間順序的橫向式構圖 ); and 4) chronological
narration in a lateral layout (I shih-chien shun-hsu
te heng-hsiang shih kou-t'u 依時間順序的橫向式構圖 ).
Representative examples and detailed discussions will
be given in the following.
Different actions sharing a common background
In a composition of different actions sharing a
common background, figures and their activities are
usually represented at a
----------------------
12. For general references to the narrative paintings
in the Tun-huang cavetemples, see Shiao-yen Shih,
"Readings and Re-readings of Narrative in Dunhuang
Murals," Artibus Asiae vol. 53 1/2 (1993), pp.
59-88; Kojima Tomoko 小島登茂子, "Tonko hekiga no
okeru no Hokushu, Suidai no sangaku hyogen--
setsuwa hyogen to no kanren o megutte-- 敦煌壁畫ズ
れんペ北周、隋代ソ山岳表現說話表現シソ關連メバをゲ
サ (Hills in the Northern Chou and Sui Wall
Paintings at Tun-huang--Their Relation to the
Narrative Representation)", Bijutsushi vol. 41
(February 1992), pp. 16-30; Tonko bunbutsu
kenkyujo 敦煌文物研究所 ed., Tonko Bakukokutsu 敦
煌莫高窟 (Tokyo: Heibon-sha, 1980-1982), 5 vols.;
Kaneoka Shoko 金岡照光, "Tonko bunken no
honshotan--hekiga to kanren shite 敦煌文獻ソ本生譚
-- 壁畫ソ關連ウサ (Jataka in the Tun-huang
manuscripts and the wall paintings in the
Tun-huang caves)," Toyogaku ronso 東洋學論叢, 35
(March, 1982), pp. 34-61; Donohashi Akiho 百橋明穗
"Tonko hekiga ni okeru honshozu no tenkai 敦煌壁畫
ズれんペ本生圖ソ展開 (Narrative development in
Tun-huang jataka painting), "Bijutsushi 美術史 1
(1978), pp. 18-43; Akiyama Terukatsu 秋山光和,
"Tonko hekiga, Bukkyo setsuwa zu 敦煌壁畫， 佛教說
話圖 (Buddhist narratives in Tun-huang wall
paintings)," Nihon Sankei Shinbun 日本產經新聞,
May 21, 1971; Sawa Ryuken 佐和隆研, "Tonko
sekikutsu no hekiga 敦煌石窟ソ壁畫 (Wall paintings
in Tun-huang cave-temples), " in Seiiki Bunka
Kenkyu 西域文化研究 (Studies of Chinese-Turkestan
culture) (Tokyo: Hozokan, 1962), vol. 5, pp
177-178; Tonko no Bukkyo bijutsu 敦煌ソ佛教美術
(special issue on the Buddhist art in Tun-huang
cave-temples), in Bukkyo geijutsu 佛教藝術 (Ars
Buddhica), no. 34 (1958); Tun-huang wen-wu
chan-lan chuan-chi 敦煌文物展覽專輯 (Special issue
on the exhibition of the arts from Tunhuang
cave-temples), in Wen-wu ts'an-k'ao tzu-liao 文物
參考資料 (1951), vol. 2, nos. 4-5; and Matsumoto
Eiichi 松本榮一. Tonkoga no kenkyu 敦煌畫ソ研究 (A
study of the Tun-huang wall paintings) (Tokyo:
Toho Bunka Gakuin, 1935), 2 vols.
p. 249
small scale in sequential order against one
background, which can be a landscape or an
architectural setting. This type of composition is
exemplified by The Jataka of King Sibi in Cave 254,
datable to the Northern Wei period 北魏 (386--534)
(pl. 5), Based on the Hsien-yu-ching 賢愚經
translated by Hui-chueh 慧覺 of the same period, the
painting depicts King Sibi sacrificing his own body
to save a pigeon from a starving hawk; in reality
both birds were deities testing the king's
compassion.(13)
In the center of a square wall panel, King Sibi
is shown seated on a bench. A white hawk swoops down
from the upper corner to chase a blue pigeon, which
perches on the king's right hand for refuge. To
rescue the pigeon, according to the text, the king
promised to pay the hawk a ransom of his own flesh
equalling the weight of the pigeon. Under the king's
command, an attendant was told to remove the amount
of the king's flesh needed to balance the pigeon on a
scale, as shown at the lower right of the
composition, Yet due to magic, the pigeon grew
heavier and heavier; even all the kings flesh could
not equal the weight of the small bird. Finally, the
fleshless king added his own skeleton and balanced
the scale, as seen in the lower right corner of this
painting. Only then did he pass the
hea\;enly-arranged test and satisfy his judges; his
lost flesh was returned, and as a reward for his
compassion, he was made even stronger than before. In
spite of the fact that the composition is dominated
by the king and his family in a hieratic grouping,
the temporal progression of this narrative can be
seen by reading the images arranged consecutively in
the right half of the picture.'" Centuries later we
also find this composi-
----------------------
13. For the Chinese text of the narrative, see Liu
Hsiu-ch'iao 劉修橋 ed., Ta- tsang-ching 大藏經
(Buddhist Tripitaka-representation of the Taisho
shinshu Daizokyo 大正新修大藏經, co-ed., by
Takukusu Junjiro 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaikyoku
渡邊海旭, 1872-1933) (Taipei: Hsin-wen-feng
ch'u-pan-she, 1974), vol. 4, pp. 351-352. For more
textual references to the Buddhist narratives
among the Tun-huang wall paintings of this period,
see Takada Osamu 高田修, "Bukkyo sets-uwa zu to
Tonko hekiga--toku ni Tonko senki no honen setsuwa
zu 佛教說話圖シ敦煌壁畫 -- 特ズ敦煌先期ソ本緣說話
圖 (Buddhist jataka paintings and the Tun-huang
wall paintings-especially the jataka paintings in
the early caves)," in Tonko bunbutsu kenkyujo ed.,
Tonko Bakukokutsu (op. cit.), vol. 2, p. 229.
14. The Sibi Jataka was a favorite theme for pictorial
representations in India and Central Asia; for
references, see Matsumoto Eiichi, Tonko ga no
kakyu top cit.), pp. 282-286. In addition to this
one, there are at least two other wall paintings
that depict this story at Tun-huang, in Cave 275,
datable to ca. 420, and in Cave 302, which is
datable to the Sui period (581-618); both
paintings are con-
p. 250
tional device employed in a Japanese narrative
painting, showing Nun Myoren at Todai-ji in the
Shigisan engi emaki 信貴山緣起繪卷, datable to the
twelfth century.
Chronological narration in a serpentine layout
In a composition with chronological narration in
a serpentine layout, narrative scenes are squeezed
closely together in a wavy sequence, which is best
exemplified by The Jataka of Prince Mahasattva
(Mo-k'o-sa-t'o t'ai-tzu pen-sheng 摩訶薩埵太子本生 ),
also in Cave 254 (pl. 6). This jataka is based on the
Fo-shuo p'u-sa t'ou shen i o hu ch'i t'a yin-yuan
ching 佛說菩薩投身飴餓虎起塔因緣經, which was
translated into Chinese by Fa-sheng 法盛 of the
Northern Liang period 北涼 (397-439).(15) The text
tells of Prince Mahasattva's self-sacrifice to feed a
starving tigress and her seven cubs. According to the
text, the hermit prince one day found the animals
under a cliff near his hermitage. His compassion
urged him to sacrifice his own body to save them, so
he lay down in front of them. But because the animals
were too feeble to eat his living body, he decided to
kill himself to make it easier for them. Therefore,
he climbed up onto a cliff, pierced his throat with a
bamboo stalk, and threw himself headlong into the
ravine, as shown in the first and second scenes.
Devouring his dead body, as seen in the third scene,
the animals were saved from starvation. On hearing of
this disaster, the prince's mother and wives ran
barefoot from the palace to the mountain and cried
over his corpse, as illustrated in the fourth and
fifth scenes. Gathering his bones, they built a stupa
by the mountain to commemorate him, as described in
the last scene of the painting.
Tightly arranged, these seven scenes wind up and
down across the picture plane, starting from the
upper right corner and ending at the upper left of
the square wall surface. Although each scene slightly
overlaps the next to create a sense of pictorial
continuity, lack of spatial cohesion among the scenes
makes the narrative sequence of this painting hard to
follow. Despite the fact that the artist provides a
certain picture space for the figures' actions,
----------------------
tinuous compositions, with only two or three
scenes juxtaposed in a lateral layout. For plates,
see Tonko bunbutsu kenkyujo ed., Tonko Bakuko
kutsu (op. cit.), vol.1, pls. 12-13; vol.2, pl.
11.
15. For the Chinese text, see Liu Hsiu-ch'iao ed.,
Ta-tsang-ching, (op.cit.), vol. 3, pp. 424-28.
p. 251
he fails to convey a sense of spatial depth for each
scene. Therefore, these figures appear unrelated to
the background; their dramatized movements often
break through the seemingly arbitrary borderlines and
float on the surface of the picture plane.
Characterized by its waviness, this Northern Wei
compositional formula is also found in two other
variant compositions, with their narrative contents
represented in a circular and in a zigzag layout. The
circular composition is found in a Western Wei 西魏
(534- 557) painting, The Jataka of the Brahman
(P'o-lo-men pen-sheng 婆羅門本生, or Sacrificing Life
to Hear the Buddhist Law (She sheng wen chieh 捨身聞
偈 ), in Cave 285, dated 538-539 (pl.7).(16) This
subject matter and compositional device were later
adopted by a Japanese painting, as shown on a door
panel of the Tamamushi Shrine in Horyu-ji 法隆寺 Nara
奈良, datable to the seventh century.
The zigzag composition is found in the Stories of
the Filial Sons (Hsiao-tzu ku-shih hua-hsiang 孝子故
事畫像 ) on both sides of a sarcophagus in the Nelson
Gallery, Kansas City, datable to the later half of
the sixth century (pl. 8).(17) Because of the narrow
space, each narrative comprises no more than three
stages, which are sequentially displayed on different
ground levels to form a zigzag course.
Achronological narration in a lateral layout
In a composition with achronological narration in
a lateral layout, the pictorial sequence contradicts
that of the text. Such a composition is exemplified
by The Jataka of the Deer King Ruru (Lu-wang
pen-sheng 鹿王本生 ) in Cave 257, datable to the
Northern Wei period (pl. 9). Based on the
Liu-tu-chi-ching 六度集經 translated by K'ang
Seng-hui 康儈會 of the Wu period 吳 (229-280), this
paint-
----------------------
16. Recorded in Ta pan-nieh-p'an ching 大般涅槃經,
the story is about a Brahman sacrificing his life
in order to hear the Buddhist law chanted by a
deity that has taken the shape of a goblin. The
sutra was translated by T'an Wu-ch'en 曇無讖 of
the Northern Liang 北涼 period (397-439). For the
Chinese text of the sutra, see Liu Hsiu-ch'iao ed.,
Ta-tsang-ching (op.cit.), vol. 12, chuan 14, pp.
449-51.
17. The dating of this sarcophagus is disputed by
scholars; for references, see Nagashiro Toshio
長廣敏雄 Rikucho jidai bijutsu no kenkyu 六朝時代
美術ソ研究 (The representational art of the Six
Dynasties Period) (Tokyo: Bijutsu shuppan-sha,
1969); see also Wai-kam Ho et al. eds., Eight
Dynarties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of
the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City and
The Cleveland Museum of Art (The Cleveland Museum
of Art in cooperation with Indiana University
Press, 1980), catalogue entry 4, pp. 5-6.
p. 252
ing represents the Deer King Ruru's betrayal by a
man he once had rescued in an achronological sequence
of six scenes within a single frieze.(18) The first
and second scenes at the left end of the frieze show
the Deer King carrying the man on his back crossing a
river, and the man subsequently kneeling on the
ground to thank him. But in the third and fourth
scenes at the right end of the frieze, the man
reports to the royal couple seated in their palace,
and leads the imperial hunt to find the deer for its
nine-colored skin and golden antlers. The fifth scene
on the left side of the frieze shows the Deer King,
unaware of the danger, lying asleep at its usual
place. The concluding scene is placed in the middle
of the frieze, and represents the Deer King
explaining the earlier rescue of the man. Due to
these events, the deer's life was spared, and the
traitor was punished.
This achronological layout clearly demonstrates
that the painter created a pictorial sequence for the
narrative which contradicts the plot of the text. He
treats the frieze as a stage and organizes the six
scenes into two categories, based on their physical
occurrence, that move inward from both ends and meets
each other in the middle. In other words, he is more
concerned with the pictorial arrangement of these
incidents than with their temporal sequence in which
they took place.
This kind of achronological composition derives
from Indian narrative illustrations, as shown by the
Syama Jataka (Shan-tzu pen- sheng 睒子本生 ), a wall
painting in Ajanta Cave 10, datable to the second
century (pl.10). Recorded in the Fo shuo p'u-sa
Shan-tzu ching 佛說菩薩睒子經, the Syama Jataka
recounts how Syama regained his life in reward for
his filial piety.(19) The young Syama, who lived with
his blind parents in a mountain hut, one day went to
a brook to ladle out some water. While there, because
he had worn a deer-skin coat, he was mistaken for a
deer and shot by the king, who just happened to be
out hunting. Upon discovering what he had done, the
king contritely led the blind parents to Syama's
corpse. Touching Syama's dead body, his grieving
mother wailed, praying to Heaven: so moved by her
cries, the Heaven returned Syama to life.
---------------------------
18. For the Chinese text of the sutra, see Liu Hsiu
ch'iao ed., Ta-tsang-ching (op.cit.) vol.3, p.33.
19. There are at least three versions of this narra-
tive, see Liu Hsiu-ch'iao ed., Ta-tsang-ching (op.
cit.) Vol.3, pp.436-43.
p. 253
On the Ajanta frieze, Syama's leave-taking of his
old parents in their hut is seen at one end, the
king's departure from his palace for hunting at the
other, and Syama's death and revival in the middle.
This achronological narration had been adopted by the
Northern Wei artist, as shown in The Jataka of the
Deer King Ruru just mentioned, and became a
compositional convention for most of the Syama
Jatakas depicted in the Tun-huang wall paintings, as
seen in Caves 301 and 417 (respectively datable to
the Northern Chou and the Sui periods) (pl.11)(20)
But this Indian compositional formula seems to have
been abandoned at the end of the sixth century, since
the Syama Jataka in Cave 302, datable to the Sui
period, is represented in chronological order, which
reflects the Chinese influence (pl.12).(21)
Chronological narration in a lateral Layout
Most favored by the Chinese artist, the
compositional structure of chronological narration in
a lateral layout makes a pictorial sequence
correspond to the temporal progression of a text.
This compositional method was increasingly elaborated
upon in the Western Wei 西魏 period (534-557),
exemplified by The Avadana of the Five Hundred
Robbers ( Wu-pai tao-tsei kuei Fo yuan 五百盜賊歸佛緣
, or Te-yen-lin 得眼林 ) in Cave 285, dated 538-539
(pl.13). Based on the Ta pan-nieh-p'an-ching 大般涅槃
經 translated by T'an Wu- ch'en 曇無讖 of the
Northern Liang period, this painting shows how five
hundred robbers were converted to Buddhism.(22) In
this
--------------------------------
20. For the Ajanta wall painting, c.f. Takada Osamu,
"Ajantn--hekiga no Bukkyo setsuwa to sono byosha
keishiki ni tsuite ヤЖц⑦У壁畫ソ佛教說話シガソ
描寫形式ズコゆサ(Buddhist stories depicted in the
Ajanta frescoes: their identified subjects and
representation methods),"Bunka 文化, vol.20, no.2
(March 1956), pp. 61-95, esp., pp.75-76. For the
plates of the Syama narratives in caves 301 and
417, see Tonko bunbutsu kenkyujo ed., Tonko
Bakukokutsu op. cit.), vol.2, pls.3, 33. For
references to the text and the representations of
the Syama Jataka. See Ch'eng Ichung 程毅中,
"Tun-huang pen hsiao-tzu chuan yu Shan-tzu
ku-shih 敦煌本孝子傳與睒子故事 (Lives of devoted
sons in Dunhuang manuscripts and the Story of
Shanzi), " and Higashiyama Gengoro, "Presentation
Forms of Jataka Stories as Examples," both are
included in Tun-huang Academy comp., Summary
Papers of the International Conference on
Dunhuangology (1990), pp. 209-10; pp.110-111.
21. For the plate of this narrative, see Tonko bunbu-
tsu kenkyujo ed., Tonko Bakukokutsu (op.cit.),
vol.2, pl.9.
22. For a Chinese translation, see Liu Hsiu-ch'iao
ed., Ta-tsang-ching (op. cit.), vol.12, chuan 16,
p.458.
p. 254
painting, the five hundred robbers are reduced to
five representatives --each standing for one
hundred--which reappear in seven scenes arranged
consecutively from left to right. The first and
second scenes show two battles in which the five
hundred robbers were quelled and captured by the army
of King Po-ssu-ni 波斯匿 of the Ch'iao-sa-lo 燆薩羅
state in ancient India In the third scene, the
robbers' eyes are gouged out, while in the fourth,
they are sent into exile in the wilderness as
punishment. The fifth scene depicts the Buddha, then
preaching in a distant bamboo grove, hearing their
plaintive cries; the merciful savior, pitying them,
sends an eye-healing powder on the wind. The sixth
scene shows that upon regaining their sight, the
grateful robbers pay their homage to the Buddha, who
then reveals to them that their misfortunes were
retribution for the accumulated misdeeds of their
previous lives. Upon this realization, the robbers
convert to Buddhism and become arhats, as represented
in the last scene.
Most of these scenes are represented in landscape
settings, especially the last four, which are placed
in four space cells, These space cells are formed by
tall trees and saw-toothed hillocks in irregular
groupings on uneven baselines. These landscape
settings correspond to the inner feelings of the
figures. For example, in the fourth scene, the
hillocks are arrayed on a wavy baseline, an unstable
configuration that seems to echo the robbers'
unbearable pain. In the fifth scene, the hillocks are
place on a slightly curved diagonal baseline that
reflects the robbers' gradually stilled emotions. And
in the sixth and seventh scenes, the hillocks are
stably placed on horizontal baselines, visually
expressing the arhats' newly realized peace of mind.
This treatment reflects the Western Wei artist's
intention to represent a correspondence between man
and nature--a concern that was likely to have been
informed by southern Chinese aesthetic theories
associated with the rise of Neo-Taoist philosophy.
The Rise of Landscape Painting in Southern China
The rise of "Nature Poetry (shan-shui shih 山水詩
)" was influenced by Taoist "Naturalism (tzu-jan 自然
), " originally advocated by Lao- tzu and
Chuang-tzu.(23) In pursuit of harmony between man and
----------------------
23. For different translations of the term "tzu-jan,"
see Ellen Johnson Laing, "Neo-Taoism and the
'Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove' in Chinese
painting." Aribus, Asiae 36 1/2 (1974), p.5.
p. 255
nature, Taoism advocates that man purify his mind
(hsin-chai 心齋 ), emancipate his spirit from the
material world (hsiao-yao wu wai 逍遙物外 ), free
himself from social bondage (yu shih wu cheng 與世無
爭 ), and model himself after nature (fa tzu-jan 法自
然 )--that which manifests the great "Way (tao 道 )"
of the universe.(24) Although Taoism was one of the
major schools of philosophy prevalent during the
Warring States period (403-221 B.C.), it was
surpassed by Legalism and Confucianism in the Ch'in
and Han periods (221 B.C.-A.D. 220).
But in the tumultuous and war-torn years that
ensued, Confucianism lost its prestige and political
authority. Legalism rose but quickly fell again,
advocated by Ts'ao Ts'ao 曹操 (A.D. 155-220) and his
successors who ruled the Wei dynasty (220-265).
Buddhism dominated Northern China after the Western
Chin (265- 316) had been forced to move to south of
the Yang-tzu River by Liu Ts'ung 劉聰 and Shih Hu 石
虎. Taoism was revived, welcomed by common people and
intellectuals alike. Commoners mixed it with Buddhism
and shamanism to create a religious cult called
"Tao-chiao 道教 (Taoism)."(25) As for the
intellectuals, known as "Neo-Taoists, " they
assimilated the Lao-Chuang philosophy with that of
the Book of Change to form the "Three Metaphysics
(san- hsuan 三玄 )," as their basic creed.
Exemplified by the famous "Seven Sages of the
Bamboo Grove (Chu-lin ch'i-hsien 竹林七賢 )" of the
Wei and Western Chin periods, (26) Neo-Taoist
intellectuals lived their lives according to the
principle of naturalism. Most of them discarded
Confucian classics and moral teachings, avoided
political activity, and turned
----------------------
24. For a general understanding of the philosophy of
Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, see feng Yu-lan 馮友蘭,
Chung-kuo che-hsueh shih 中國哲學史 (History of
Chinese phiiosophy)
(Hong Kong: T'ai-p'ing-yang t'u-shu kung-ssu,
1959), chapter 8, 10, pp. 210-38, 277-306.
25. The first patriarch of this cult is Chang Tao-
ling 張道陵 (fl. A.D. 58-87). At the end of the
second century, this cult was known as "Wu-tou-mi
chiao 五斗米教 (Five-pecks-of-rice cult), led by
Chang Chiao 張角 (fl. late second-early third cen-
tury); it enticed a great portion of Chinese with
promises of an immortal world. For references, see
Wang Chung-lo, Wei Chin Nan-pei-ch'ao shih 王仲犖，
魏晉南北朝史 (History of the Wei, Chin and Southern
and Northern Dynasties) (Shanghai: Shanghai jen-min
mei-shu ch'u-pan-she, 1979), vol.2, p.785-799.
26. The term was first found in Liu I-ching 劉義慶 Shih-
shuo hsin-yu 世說新語 (New Account of Tales of the
World), (tr. by Richard B. Mather) (Minneapolis:
University of Mennisota, 1976),chapter 23: "Jen-tan
任誕 (The Free and Unrestrained)," pp.371-72).
p. 256
their backs on worldly values.(27) They engaged in
witty dialectic conversations, known as "pure talk
(ch'ing-t'an 清談 ), " based on the "Three
Mataphysics, "(28) and lived on special diets, some
of which included an arsenic cowpound called the
"Five-mineral- powder (Wu-shih-san 五石散 )," to
attain longevity. When taking this medicine, they had
to drink cold liquor and take walking excursions in
order to avoid arsenic poisoning. Intoxicated
enchantment with nature's beauty led to their writing
poems on landscape, and thus they initiated the genre
of "Nature Poetry."(29) The rise of this new literary
genre accelerated at the beginning of the Southern
Dynasties (317-589): the Eastern Chin 東晉 (317-420),
Sung 宋 (420-479), Ch'i 齊 (479-502), Liang 梁
(502-557), and Ch'en 陳 (557-589), which all had
their capital at Chien-k'ang 建康 ( modern Nanking).
In the south, Chinese intellectuals found themselves
deeply moved by the verdant and beautiful mountainous
scenery, especially in Kuei-chi 會稽 in Chekiang, and
Mount Lu 廬山 in Kiangsi 江西; and they frequently
held outdoor literary gatherings that celebrated the
surroundings, as testified by Wang Hsi-chih's 王羲之
(321-379) famous "Preface to the Gathering at Orchid
Pavilion (Lan-t'ing chi-hsu 蘭亭集序 ).(30) Their
view of nature
----------------------
27. Cf. Etienne Balazs, "Nihilistic Revolt of Mystical
Escapism, Currents of Thoughts in China During
the Third Century A.D., " in his Chinese
Civilization and Bureaucracy. Variations on a
Theme, tr. by H.M., ed., by Arthur Wright (New
Haven: Yale University, 1964), pp.226-54; Richard
B. Mather, "Individualist and Wholism: the
Confucian and Taoist Philosophical Perspective,"
unpublished paper, June 1980, and Ellen Johnson
Laing, "Neo-Taoism and the 'Seven Sages of the
Bamboo Grove' in Chinese Painting," (op.cit.),
pp.5-54.
28. Cf. Ho Ch'i-min 何啟民, Wei Chin ssu-hsiang yu
t'an-feng 魏晉思想與談風 (The thoughts and the
fashion of dialectic conversations of the Wei and
Chin periods) (Taipei: Hsueh-sheng shu-chu,
1976).
29. Lu Hsun 魯迅, "Wei Tsin wen-chang yu yao ho chiu
te Kuan-hsi 魏晉文章與藥和酒的關係 (The
relationship of literary creation to liquor and
medi- cine in the Wei and Tsin periods)," in Lu
Hsun ch 'uan-chi 魯迅全集 (The collected works of
Lu Hsun) (Peking: Jen-min wen-hsueh ch'u-pan-she,
1973), vol.3, pp. 486-501.
30. Wang Hsi-chih's "Lan-t'ing chi hsu" was abbrevi-
ated and retitled as "Lin-ho hsu 臨河序 (Preface
to [the gathering by] a river) by Liu I-ch'ing in
his Shih-shuo hsin-yu (op.cit.), chapter 16:
Ch'i-hsien 企羡 (Admiration and Emulation), "
pp.6b- 7a; for an English translation, see
Richard Mather, Shih-shuo hsin-yu (op.cit.), pp.
321-22. According to Frodsham, an earlier writing
on the Orchid Pavilion before Wang Hsi-chih is
the "Lan-t'ing chi 蘭亭記 (On the Orchid
Pavilion)" by Yu Ch'en 庾闡 (c.286-339) around
the beginning of the fourth century; see
Frodsham, "The Origins of Chinese Nature Poetry,"
Asia Major, n.s.8 (1960-61), pp. 86-97. For more
discussions about the problems of Lan-t'ing, see
Kuo Mo-jo et al., Lan-t'ing lun pien 蘭亭論辯
(Argumentations and discourses on the problems of
Lan-t'ing) (Peking: Wen-wu ch'u-pan-she, 1973).
p. 257
as the manifestation of Taoist, Confucian, and
Buddhist philoso- phy, gave rise to the creation of
many penta-syllabic poems (wu- yen-shih 五言詩 ).(31)
The flourishing of "Nature Poetry" began in the
early Eastern Chin and reached its apex in the Sung
period, represented by Hsieh Ling-yun 謝靈運
(385-433). According to Liu Hsieh 劉勰 (ca. 465-522)
in his "Exegesis of Poetry (Ming shih 明詩 ):"
At the beginning of the Sung (420-479) some
development in the literary trend was evident. Chuang
and Lao had receded into the background and the theme
of mountains and streams then began to
flourish.......(32)
宋初文詠，體有因革，莊老告退，而山水方滋......
Because of the flourishing of "Nature Poetry,"
landscape eventually came to provide intellectuals
with a metaphorical language to characterize man's
personalities. For example, in an inscription on the
portrait of Wang I-fu 王夷甫 (fl. later half of the
fourth century), Ku K'ai-chih wrote: "High-towering,
the unsullied peak, standing like a cliff a thousand
jen 仞 high."(33) Awe for nature also influenced the
creation of figure painting, landscape painting, as
well as related art theory. In figure settings,
characters began to be represented with landscape
paintings, which is best exemplified by the Seven
Sages of the Bamboo Grove, a bas-relief on bricks in
a tomb near Nanking (datable to A.D. 484)
(pl.14).(34) Nearly one
--------------------------------
31. Frodsham defines "Nature Poetry" as "verse
inspired by a mystic philosophy which sees all
natural phoenomena as symbols charged with a
mysterious and cathartic power;" see "The Origins
of Chinese Nature Poetry," (op.cit.), pp.72-73.
32. For an English translation, see Vincent Yu-chung
Shih, The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons
by Liu Hsieh (New York: Columbia University, 1959)
p.37. For the Chinese text, see Liu Hsieh, Wen-
hsin tiao-lung, Ssu-pu pei-yao 四部備要 edition,
chuan 2, p.3a. Echoing Liu's statement, Chung
Hung 鍾嶸 (d. 518?) mentions similar ideas in his
Shih-p'in 詩品 (Classifications of poetry),
Ssu-pu pei-yao edition, ch.I, p.1b. For an
English translation, see Frodsham, "The Origins
of Chinese Nature Poetry," (op.cit.), pp. 68-69.
33. For an English translation, see Richard Mather tr.
Shih-shuo hsin-yu (op. cit.), p.223, no.37; for
the Chinese text, see Liu Hsiao-piao's 劉孝標
annotation to Shih-shuo hsin-yu,
Ssu-pu-ts'ung-k'an 四部叢刊 edition, chapter 8:
"Shang-yu 賞譽 (Appreciation and Praise)," part
2, p.2b. Similar interesting examples are found
in Liu I-ch'ing, Shih-shuo hsin-yu, chapter 1:
"Te-hsing 德行 (Virtuous Conduct);" chapter 2:
"Yen-yu 言語 (Speech and Conversation);" chapter
8: "Shang-yu" and chapter 14: "Jung-chih 容止
(Appearance and Behavior)."
34. For a reference to the Seven Sages of the Bamboo
Grove, see Ellen Laing (op.cit.).
p. 258
hundred paintings of Taoist, Confucian, and Buddhist
themes executed in this period consisted of landscape
components.(35) It is also during this period that
the three important essays on landscape paintings
appeared for the first time in Chinese history: Ku
Kai-chih's "Account on Painting Cloud-terrace
Mountain" (Hua-yun-t'ai-shan chi 畫雲台山記 ),"
Tsung Ping's 宗炳 (375-443) "Preface to Painting
Landscapes (Hua shan-shui hsu 畫山水序 )," and Wang
Wei's 王微 (415-443) "Preface to Paintings (Hsu hua
敘畫 ).(36) Although landscape might still serve as
the setting for narative paintings, it took on an
added degree of compositional complexity as recorded
in Ku K'ai-chih's "Account on Painting Cloud-terrace
Mountain."(37)
--------------------------------
35. For the reference, see Chang Yen-yuan 張彥遠, Li
tai ming-hua chi 歷代名畫記, I-shu ts'ung-pien,
vol.8 (Taipei: Shih-chieh shu-chu, 1962), pt.58,
chuan 4-8, pp. 155-266. For the English
translation, see William R.B. Acker, "A Record of
the Famous Painters of All the Dynasties," in his
Some T'ang and Pre-T'ang Texts on Chinese
Painting (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1954). See also
Michael Sullivan, The Birth of Chinese Landscape
Painting (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of
California Press, 1962), pp.114-27.
36. For references to the study of these three
painting theories. see Hsu Fu-kuan, Chung-kuo
i-shu ching-shen (The essence of Chinese arts)
(Taipei: Hsueh-sheng shu-chu, 1967), chapter 4,
pp.225-249; Susan Bush, "Tsung Ping's Essay on
Painting Landscape and the 'Landscape Buddhism'
of Mount Lu," in Susan Bush and Christian Murck
eds., Theories of the Arts in China (Princeton.
New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1981),
pp.132-64; see also footnote 37 for references to
Ku K'ai-chih's "Account on Painting Cloud-terrace
Mountain." For the meaning of landscape art in
early stage, see Lothar Ledderose, "Religious
Elements in Landscape Art," in Susan Bush and
Christian Murck eds., Theories of the Arts in
China, (op.cit.), pp.165-83.
37. For the Chinese text of the "Account," see Chang
Yen-yuan, Li-tai ming-hua chi (op.cit.), chuan
5, pp.189-192. For more discussion of this
"Account, " see Ma Ts'ai, "Ku K'ai-chih 'Hua
Yun-t'ai-shan chi' chiao shih 顧愷之畫雲台山記校
釋 (Collation and annotation to the 'Account of
Painting the Yun-t'ai Mountain' by Ku
K'ai-chih)," Chung-shan ta-hsueh-pao 中山大學學報
3 (1979), pp. 105-112; Li Lin- ts'an 李霖燦, "Ka
K'ai-chih ch'i jen ch'i shih ch'i hua 顧愷之其人
其事其畫 (Ku K'ai- chih's personality, anecdotes
and paintings), " Ku-kung chi-k'an 故宮季刊,
vol.7, no. 3 (Spring 1973), pp. 1-29; Johnny
Shek, "A Study of Ku K'ai-chih's 'Hua Yun-t'ai-
shan chi'," Oriental Art, vol.18, no.1 (1972),
pp. 381-84; Sheng I-cheng, "Ku K'ai- chih 'hua
Yun-t'ai-shan chi i wen chih yen-chiu 顧愷之畫雲
台山記一文之研究 (A study of Ku K'ai-chih's
'Account on Painting the Yun-t'ai Mountain,"
Tung-hsi wen-hua 東西文化 (January) 1968), pp.
15-21; Nakamura Shigeo 中村不折, Chugoku garon no
tenkai--Shin To So Gen hen 中國畫論ソ展開 -- 晉唐
宋元篇 (The development of Chinese painting
criticism from the Chin to the Yuan periods)
(Kyoto: Nakamura Bunkado, 1965), pp. 3-23; Wen
Chao-t'ung 溫肇桐, "Ku K'ai-chih 'hua
Yun-t'ai-shan chi' shih lun 顧愷之畫雲台山記試論
(A discussion on the 'Account on Painting the
Yun-t'ai Mountain' by Ku K'ai-chih), "
Wen-shih-che 文史哲 4 (1962), pp. 47-49; Yonezawa
Yoshio 米澤嘉圃, "Ko Gaishi 'Ga Untaishan ki 顧愷
之 " 畫雲台山 (Ku K'ai- chih's 'Account on
Painting the Yun-t'ai Mountain')," in his Chugoku
kaiga
p. 259
The southern pictorial device, characterized by
using landscape setting for narrative paintings was
later adopted by northern Chinese artists in
depiction of Confucian stories of filial sons, as
seen on Teng-hsien 鄧縣 stamped bricks (datable to
ca.500); some sarcophagi excavated from Honan(38) and
The Avadana of the Five Hundred Robbers described
above (pl.13). Another important gift the Southern
Chinese artists bequeathed to their western Tun-huang
neighbours was the use of space cells.
The use of space-cells
The early known examples of space cells are found
in three jataka scenes on a stone stele dated 425 at
Wan-fo-ssu 萬佛寺 in Ch'eng- tu 成都, Szechwan
(pl.15).(39) As seen in the three jataka scenes, each
space-cell is formed by trees and mountains, or by
figures arranged in circles. It is possible that the
space-cell device was introduced directly from
Szechwan to Tun-huang, by means of a route still used
in the T'ang period.(40) According to my
observations, Tun-huang artists manipulated three
types of spatial representation by using the
space-cells device, aiming to create enough space for
their increasingly elaborate narrative scenes: 1)
serial space-cells (Lien-ch'uan-shih 連圈式 ); 2)
hemispherical space-cells
--------------------------------
shi kenkyu--sansui ga ron 中國繪畫史研究 -- 山水畫論
(A historical study of Chinese paintings and lands-
capes) (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1962), pp. 39-84.
38. On Teng-hsien archaeological finds, see Annette
L.Juliano, Teng-hsien: An Important Six Dynasties
Tomb (Ascona, Switzerland: Artibus Asiae, 1980).
For references to the Six Dynasties sarcophagi,
see Nagahiro Toshio, "Rikucho no setsuwa zu 六朝
ソ說話圖 (Scenes of traditional legends in the
Six Dynasties period)," in his Rikucho jidai
bijutsu no kenkyu (op.cit.), pp. 175-84.
39. The temple was first built in the mid-second
century, and was burnt down in the seventh
century. The dates of the archaeological finds
from Wan-fo-ssu range from 427 to 847. For the
history of the temple, see Liu Chih-yuan 劉致遠,
and Liu T'ing-pi 劉廷壁, eds., Ch'eng-tu
Wan-fo-ssu shih-k'o i-shu 成都萬佛寺石刻藝術 (The
art of the stone engraving of the Wan-fo-ssu
temple at Ch'eng-tu) (Peking: Chung-kuo ku-tien
i-shu ch'u-pan-she, 1958), pp. 1-7; for more
references to the stele, see Alexander Soper,
"South Chinese Influence on Buddhist Art of the
Six Dynasties Period," Bulletin of the Museum of
Far Eastern Antiquities, vol.32 (1960), pp.
47-111.
40. Ch'en Tso-lung 陳祚龍, "Chung-shih Tun-huang yu
Ch'eng-tu chih chien te chiao- t'ung lu hsien 中
世敦煌與成都之間的交通路線 (The ways of
communication between Tun-huang and Ch'eng-tu in
middle age China)," in Tun-huang hsueh-hui 敦煌學
會 ed., Tun-huang hsueh 敦煌學 (The Tun-huang
studies) (Hong Kong: Hsin-ya yen- chiu-suo
Tun-huang hsueh-hui, 1974), vol. 1, pp. 79-86.
p. 260
p. 261
(Pan-lien-ch'uan-shih 半連圈式); and 3) segmented
vestigial space-cells (Ts'an-ch'uan-shih 殘圈式).
Serial space-cells
Serial space-cells are formed by many individual
space cells linked by either landscape or
architectural elements on a lateral expanse. The best
example of this device is The Jataka of Prince
Mahasattva in Cave 428 of the Northern Chou 北周
period (557-581) (pl.16). This painting is based on
the P'u-sa pen-sheng man-lun 菩薩本生鬘論,(41) which
is slightly different from the Fo shuo p'u-sa t'ou
sheng i o hu ch'i t'a yin-yuan ching translated by
Fa-sheng mentioned above.(42) While the story as told
in these two editions is essentially the same, the
prince's biographical background in the P'u-sa
pen-sheng man-lun is much more complicated. According
to this text, the prince was the youngest son of King
Ta-chu 大車. One day while hunting with his two older
brothers, he encountered the hungry animals;
intending to feed them with his body, he asked his
brothers to leave him alone for a nap. After his
brothers had left, he sacrificed himself to the
animals in the manner recorded in Fa-sheng's text.
When the brothers returned to discover his
immolation, they gathered Mahasattva's bones and put
them into a stupa before returning to report the news
to their father.
The painting consists of twelve consecutive space
cells arrayed on three tiers of a lateral frieze. The
top tier consists of four opening scenes (SS: 1-4):
moving from right to left, there appear the three
princes reporting their hunting plan to their father
in the palace and their hunt in the mountains. The
middle tier consists of five scenes (SS: 5-9) arrayed
sequentially from left to right. There we see the
three princes sighting the starving tigers in a
valley, the two older brothers leaving Mahasattva
behind in feigned sleep, and Mahasattva killing
himself in three continuous stages: on the edge of a
cliff piercing his throat with a bamboo stalk,
jumping headlong into the valley, and lying flat on
the ground before the animals. The bottom tier
includes three scenes (10-12) arrayed from right to
left. These depict the two brothers wailing
------------------------------
41. The text was translated by Shao-hui 紹慧 of the
Liu-Sung 劉宋 period (420-479), see Liu Hsiu-
ch'iao ed., Ta-tsang-ching (op.cit.), vol.3, pp.
332-33.
42. For the reference to the text of this sutra, see
footnote 15.
p. 261
over Mahasattva's bare bones, storing the bones in a
stupa, rushing home on galloping horses, and
reporting the sad news to their father.
A serial space-cells composition like this one
was of limited value in representing three
dimensional space. Because the space cells, formed by
triangular hillocks along a circular baseline, tilt
up into the picture plane without showing any
recession; they define boundaries but do not convey a
sense of pictorial space. Groping for a better
technique to represent spatial illusion, Northern
Chou artists turned to hemispherical space-cells as a
second device.
Hemispherical space-cells
Hemispherical space-cells result from the
elimination of the upper part of serial space-cells.
Such a device is represented in the Avadana of the
Five Hundred Robbers in Cave 296 (pl.17). Based on
the text already summarized above, the painting
includes eight scenes that develop form right to left
behind a low mountain range along the bottom
register. Separated by trees, hillocks, and
architecture, these scenes consecutively show King
P'o-ssu-ni announcing to six officials his decision
to wage a war against the five hundred robbers; he
and his army going to the battle; the heated battle
between the king's army and the robbers; the
captivity of the defeated robbers; the robbers' gory
punishment; their exile from the city; their
transformation into lohans in front of the Buddha;
and finally their meditation on a mountain.
In terms of spatial representation, this Five
Hundred Rcbbers creates a more successful illussion
of open space. Small figures are shown amid a
spacious natural environment, in which depth is
created by the contrast between large hillocks and
tall trees in the foreground and small mounds and
short plants in the distance.(43)
-------------------------------
43. An identical spatial representation is found in
the Jataka of Syama and in another Jataka of
Prince Mahasattva, both in Cave 302 of the same
period; for plates, see Tonko Bunbutsu Kenkyujo
ed., Tonko Bakukokutsu (op.cit.), vol. 2, pls.
9-10. A similar spatial representational formula
is also seen in the Ku K'ai-chih attributed,
Goddess of the Lo river, which has three
versions, respectively in the Liaoning Provincial
Museum, The Palace Museum, Peking, and The Freer
Gallery, Washington D.C. According to my study,
those three scrolls are twelfth-to-thir-
teenth-century copies of an original composition
datable to the late sixth century. For a
reference to a detailed discussion of this
problem, see my Ph.D. dissertation mentioned in
the introductory remarks.
p. 262
Nevertheless, such hemispherical space-cells did
not satisfy early seventh-century artists, who went a
step farther to create the third type of the
space-cell design-segmented vestigial space-cells.
Segmented vestigial space-cells
Segmented vestigial space-cells result from
further abbreviation of a hemispherical space-cell.
This spatial device is discernible in the
Illustration of the Sutra of Cause and Effect Past
and Present (Kuo-ch'u hsien-tsai yin-kuo-ching 過去現
在因果經 Japanese: Kakko genzai inga- kyo), an
eighth-century Japanese copy of a seventh-century
Chinese composition, now in the Nara National Museum
(pl. 18). This narrative describes five episodes of
Prince Siddhartha's life preceding his conversion to
Buddhism. The corresponding text is written below
each episode.(44) These five episodes take place in
landscape settings that develop from right to left.
The first episode, the right section of which is
missing, shows the prince encountering a monk in a
garden. The second episode represents the prince
meeting a second monk on one of his outings. The
third episode depicts the prince, sitting in his own
garden, regarding a third monk. The fourth episode
represents the prince entertained by a dance
performance, by which his father intends to cheer him
up. The last episode shows the prince telling his
father of his wish to become a monk.
The pictorial continuity of this scroll is
enhanced by repetitive diagonals of earthen slopes
that border each scene. Usually two diagonal slopes
parallel each other, leaving a wide opening for the
figures' action in between. The ground plane the
figures stand on is defined by patches of grass in
front and sparse trees behind. Suggestive of distant
borders, these trees are arranged in
semicircles-vestiges of individual space cells.
Within each scene, spatial depth is suggested by the
diagonal arrangement of figures, as seen in the
arrangement of the musicians and the king's
attendants in the last two scenes.
To summarize and clarify the three-stage
development of space-cell representation, I refer
readers to the diagram.
-----------------------------
44. The sutra was translated into Chinese by Gunab-
hadra 求那跋陀羅 (394-468). For the Chinese text,
see Liu Hsiu-ch'iao ed., Ta-tsang-ching (op.cit.),
vol.3, pp. 620-653.
p. 263
Summary
As we have seen, the evolution of Chinese
narrative painting from Han to the Six Dynasties
period is characterized by an increasing tendency to
elaborate narrative details and clarify time and
space in continuous compositions. This tendency, in
my view, was affected by two important factors: the
importation of Buddhist narrative art and the rise of
Neo-Taoist Philosophy. The entrance and circulation
of Indian and Central Asian Buddhist narrative
painting aroused an enormous response from Chinese
artists of the Six Dynasties period. As reflected in
Tun-huang wall paintings, Chinese artists assimilated
this alien art both selectively and eclectically.
Although in the beginning of the fifth centuIy they
open-mindedly adopted the themes, compositions, and
iconography of non-Chinese Buddhist art, as seen in
The Jataka of the Deer King Ruru (pl.10), they
gradually transformed these exotic representational
idioms into a Chinese pictorial language, and
eventually created a syncretic Sino-Buddhist style.
In the process of Sinicization, Buddhist
narrative themes were narrowed down to center on
those of filial piety and mercifulness, in
correspondence with the Confucian values of "hsiao 孝
" and "jen 仁."(45) Buddhist deities are seen
coexisting with Taoist immortals
---------------------------------
45. For example, the Confucian concept of "filial
piety" was increasingly advocated in Buddhist
teachings. This is reflected in the frequent
appearance of the Shan-tzu pen-sheng 睒子本生
(Syama Jataka) in Tun-huang wall paintings, and
the spread of the Mu-lien chiu mu pien-wen 目蓮救
母變文 (Transformed prose on the story of Mu-lien
rescuing is mother from hell) tales elaborated
from the sutra of Fo shuo yu-lan-p'en ching 佛說
盂蘭盆經 translated by Chu Fa-hu 竺法護 of the
Western Chin 西晉 period (265-316). For the
Chinese text of the sutra, see Liu Hsiu- ch'iao
ed., Ta-tsang-ching (op. cit.), chuan 16, p. 779.
For the Chinese text of the prose, see Wang
Chung-min 王重民, Tun-huang pien-wen 敦煌變文
(Transformed prose found at Tun-huang) (Taipei:
Shih-chieh shu-chu, 1961), vol. 2, pp. 701- 760;
for an English translation, see Victor H. Mair,
"Maudgalyayana (Transformation Text on
Mahamaudgalyayana Rescuing His Mother from the
Underworld)," in his Tun-huang Popular Narratives
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp.
88-172. Ch'en Yin-k'o 陳寅恪 also points out that
some Minayana sutras were concerned, and
remoulded to fit Chinese ethics and values when
they were translated from Sanskrit into Chinese;
see Ch'en Yin-k'o, "Lien-hua-se-ni ch'u-chia
yin-yuan-p'in pa 蓮花色尼出家因緣品跋 (Postcript
to the 'Cause of the conversion of the Buddhist
nun nicknamed Lotus-color')," in Ch'en Yin-k'o
hsien-sheng lun-wen chi 陳寅恪先生論文集 (The
collected essays of Ch'en Yin-k'o) (Taipei:
San-jen-hsing ch'u-pan-she, 1974), vol.2,
pp.719-24. For the concept of filial piety in
this period, see also Lin Lichen 林麗真, "Lun Wei
Chin te hsiao-tao ssu-hsiang yu cheng-chih
che-hsueh tsung-chiao le kuan-hsi 論魏晉的孝道思
想與政治、 哲學、 宗教的關係 (On the relationship
between the concept of filial piety and that of
politics, phi-
p. 264
within one scene, as found in the paintings on the
ceilings of Tun-huang Caves 249 and 285.(46)
Ultimately, all iconographical details and settings
of Buddhist narratives were divorced from their
foreign origins; figures came to be dressed in
Chinese costumes and shown within Chinese
architectural and landscape settings. The increasing
use of landscape settings for Buddhist narrative
themes might be seen as a pictorial reflection of the
Sinicization of Buddhism.(47)
Stimulated by Neo-Taoist philosophy, landscape
representation underwent important changes during the
Six Dynasties period. Renewed interest in Taoist
concepts of nature altered man's vision of the world
in which he lived. A new theme, that of figures in a
landscape, became popular. As analysis of the
Buddhist narrative paintings at Tun-huang shows,
artists' began to devote much attention to landscape
settings and the problems of representing
illusionistic recession and continuous compositions.
The elaborative use of continuous composition for
a narrative painting had its functional purpose.
Buddhist narrative paintings, losophy, and religion
in the Wei and Chin periods), unpublished paper for
the International Conference on Imperial Rulership
and Cultural Change in Traditional China ( 中國古代帝
王統治與文化變遷 ), Taipei, 1992.
----------------------
46. Scholars have disparate interpretations for the
iconography of the deities shown in these two
caves. Chinese scholars, including Ho Shih-che 賀
世哲 and Tuan Wen-chieh 段文杰 take them as a
mixture of Buddhist and Taoist deities; for
reference, see Ho Shih-che, "Mo-kao-k 'u 249 k 'u
ting hsi-pi pi-hua nei-jung k 'ao-shih 莫高窟 249
窟頂西壁壁畫內容考釋 (An investigation into the
content of the painting on the west ceiling slope
of Tun-huang Cave 249)," Tun-huang hsueh chi-k'an
敦煌學輯刊 (1980-83), vol.3, pp. 28-32; see also
his article, "Kuan yu 285 k'u chih Pao-ying-sheng
p'u-sa yu Pao-chi-hsiang p'u-sa 關係 285 窟之寶應
聲菩薩與寶吉祥菩薩 (Regarding the Bodhisattvas
Pao-ying-sheng and Pao-chi-hsiang in Tun-huang
Cave 285)," Tun-huang yen-chiu 敦煌研究 (1985),
vol. 3, pp. 37-40; and Tun Wen-chieh. "Lueh lun
Mo-kao-k'u ti 249 k'u Pi-hua nei-jung han i-shu
略論莫高窟第 249 窟壁畫內容和藝 術 (A brief
discussion on the art and the content of the
painting in Tun-huang Cave 249), " Tun-huang
yen-chiu (1983), vol. 1, pp.1-9. Western
scholars, including Judy C.W. Ho and Susan Bush,
regard some of those scenes as illustrations to
the Vimalakirtinirdesa sutra (Wei-mo-chieh ching
維摩詰經 ); for references, see Judy C.W. Ho,
"Dun-huang Cave 249: A Representation of the
Vimalakirtinirdesa, " Ph.D. thesis, Yale
University, 1985; and Susan Bush, "Problems of
Iconography and the Ceiling of Dun-huang Cave
249, " Summary Papers of the International
Conference on Dunhuangology (op.cit.), pp.16-7.
47. For a detailed discussion of the Sinicization of
Buddhism, see Kenneth Ch'en, The Chinese
Transformation of Buddhism (Princeton, New
Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1973),
especially pp. 1-50; see also D.Holzman, "Filial
Piety in Ancient and Early Medieval China: Its
Perennity and Its Importance in the Cult of the
Emperor," unpublished paper for the conference on
"The Nature of State and Society in Medieval
China," Stanford, August 16-18, 1980.
p. 265
like scriptures, are didactic religious vehicles that
convey Buddhist values; they teach moral behavior
through the pictorial description of virtuous deeds.
Therefore, whatever contributes a compelling
narrative, with an articulate representation of
spatial continuity and temporal progression, will be
selected and developed. Such a painting was
apparently more easily read by common pilgrims, most
of them illiterate, than was a simultaneous
composition which lacks a traceable plot, or a
monoscenic composition in which the narrative was cut
up in pieces. This is one reason for the adoption of
a continuous composition for Buddhist narratives, at
least whenever the wall space permitted.
1. 同發式構圖 simultaneous composition
荊軻刺秦王 (Ching K'o Assossinating the King of Ch'in)
(pl. 1)
2. 單景式構圖 monoscenic composition
鴻門宴 (The Banquet at Hung-men) (pl. 2)
3. 連續式構圖 continuous composition
二桃殺三士 (Two Peaches Killing Three Warriors) (pl. 3)
和林格爾漢墓壁畫出行圖 (Processions of a Han Official at Ho-lin-ko-
erh) (pl. 4)
4. 異時同景式構圖 different actions sharing a common
background
濕昆王本生 (The Jataka of King Sibi, Tun-huang Cave
254, 386-534) (pl. 5)
5. 依時間順序的曲折式構圖 chronological narration in a serpentine
layout
摩訶薩埵太子本生 (The Jataka of Prince Mahasattva, Tun-
huang Cave 254, 386-534) (pl. 6)
婆羅門本生 (The Jataka of the Brahman, Tun-huang
Cave 254, 538-539) (pl. 7)
孝子故事畫像 (Stories of the Filial Sons, 6th C.) (pl. 8)
6. 不依時間順序的橫向式構圖 achronological narration in a lateral
layout
鹿王本生 (The Jataka of the Deer King Ruru, Tun-
huang Cave 257, 386-534) (pl. 9)
睒子本生 (Syama Jataka, Ajanta Cave 10, A.D. 2nd
c.) (pl. 10)
7. 依時間順序的橫向式構圖 chronological narration in a lateral
layout
p. 266
五百盜賊歸佛緣 (The Avadana of the Five Hundred Robbers,
Tun-huang Cave 285, 538-539) (pl.13)
8. 竹林七賢 (The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove) (pl.
14)
9. 成都萬佛寺石刻 Three Jataka scenes at Wan-fo-ssu (pl.
15)
10. 圈圍式空間 space-cell
11. 連圈式 serial space-cells
摩訶薩埵太子本生 (The Jataka of Prince Mahasattva, Tun-
huang Cave 428, 557-581) (pl.16)
12. 半連圈式 hemispherical space-cells
五百盜賊歸佛緣 (The Avadana of the Five Hundred Robbers,
Tun-huang Cave 296, 557-581) (pl. 17)
13. 殘圈式 segmented vestigial space-cells
過去現在因果經 (Illustration of the Sutra of Cause and Effect
Past and Present, Nara National Museum,
an 8th c. copy of a 7th c. composition)
(pl. 18)
p. 267
Plate 1. Ching K'o Assassinating the King of Ch'in, A.D. 151, rubbing,
stone engraving, the Wu Liang Shrine, Shantung
Plate 2. The Banquet at Hung-men, ca. 48-7 B.C., drawing, painting
on wood, Tomb No. 61, Lo-yang, Honan
Plate 3. Two Peaches Killing Three Warriors, ca. 48-7 B.C., drawing,
painting on wood, Tomb No.61, Lo-yang, Honan
Plate 4. Processions of a Han Offcial, ca. A.D. 160s-170s, drawing,
wall painting, Ho-lin-ko-erh
Plate 5. The Jataka of King Sibi, Northern Wei period (386-534),
drawing, wall painting, Cave 254, Tun-huang
Plate 6. The Jataka of Prince Mahasattva, Northern Wei period
(386-534), drawing, wall painting, Cave 254, Tun-huang
Plate 7. The Jataka of the Brahman, A.D. 538-539, drawing, wall
painting, Cave 285, Tun-huang
Plate 8. Stories of the Filial Sons, section, ca. later half of the 6th cen-
tury, rubbing, stone engraving, sarcophagus, Nelson Gallery-
Atkins Museum, Kansas City, U.S.A.
Plate 9. The Jataka of the Deer King Ruru, Northern Wei period
(386-534), drawing, wall painting, Cave 257, Tun-huang
Plate 10. Syama Jataka, A.D. 2nd century, drawing, wall painting,
Cave 10, Ajanta
Plate 11. Syama Jataka, Northern Chou period (557-581), draw-
ing, wall painting, Cave 301, Tun-huang
Plate 12. Syama Jataka, Sui Period (581-618), drawing, wall paint-
ing, Cave 302, Tun-huang
Plate 13. The Avadana of the Five Hundred Robbers, A.D. 538-539,
drawing, wall painting, Cave 285, Tun-huang
Plate 14. The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, section, ca. A.D. 480s,
p. 268
rubbing, bas-relief on bricks, Hsi-shan-ch'iao, Nanking
Plate 15. Three Jataka scenes, A.D. 425, rubbing, stone engraving,
Wan-fo-ssu, Ch'eng-tu, Szechwan
Plate 16. The Jataka of Prince Mahasattva, Northern Chou period
(557-581), drawing, wall painting, Cave 428, Tun-huang
Plate 17. The Avadana of the Five Hundred Robbers, Northern Chou
period (557-581), drawing, wall painting, Cave 296, Tun-huang
Plate 18. Illustration of the Sutra of Cause and Effect Past and Present,
section, an 8th century copy of a 7th century composition, draw-
ing, handscroll, Nara National Museum, Nara, Japan
Chen 1.
(Serial space-cells, The Jataka of Prince Mahasattva, Tun-huang
Cave 428, ca. 557-581)
Chen 2.
(Hemispherical space-cells, The Avadana of the Five Hundred Rob-
bers, Tun-huang Cave 296, ca. 557-581)
Chen 3.
(Segmented vestigial space-cells, The Illustration of the Sutra of Cause
and Effect Past and Present, Nara National Museum, an 8th-century
copy of an early 7th-century composition)