The Qixia Mountain grotto is the earliest Buddhist grotto remaining in the South China. The study on the Qixia Mountain grotto holds great value to the research concerning the origin and development of the art of grotto and statue of the Southern Dynasties. This article, as a new understanding on the abreast-seated statue of Sakyamuni and Prabutaratna, presents a constructive view, which is different from the existence ones, to the decoration style robe of a Buddhist monk, by a re-study on the development of this style during the South and North Dynasties. Furthermore, this article attempts to show that there is a discrepancy between the costume design of the buddhist statue in Qixia Mountain and its built age, as it is recorded by the historical sources.
