貞觀年間的絲路往來與敦煌翟家窟畫樣的來歷=Silk Road Cultural Exchanges and the Origin of the Cave Wall Paintings Sponsored by the Zhai Family in the Zhenguan Era of the Tang Dynasty
Mogao Cave 220 is an important cave from the early Tang dynasty constructed between the sixteenth year of the Zhenguan era(642) and the second year of the Longshuo era(662), according to votive texts and inscriptions inside the caves and relevant historical records. The sutra illustrations found within have never been seen before in Dunhuang caves, the seven standing images of Bhaisajyaguru on the north wall and the portrait of the emperor in the Vimalakirti Sutra illustration on the east wall, which is similar to those painted by Yan Liben during the same period, are particularly striking discoveries. These paintings, which seem rather out of place compared to the artistic contents of nearby caves, had likely been copied from drafts from the Tang capital of Chang’an. In the sixth year of the Wu’de era during the reign of Emperor Gao, the Tang empire had Dunhuang under its firm control and established a close relationship between Dunhuang and the Central Plains.Some large and influential families and literati eventually moved to Dunhuang while some literary figures of Dunhuang also went to Chang’an to receive scholarly honors or official ranks—like Zhai Tong for example—and at one point, envoys came from Chang’an to Dunhuang to welcome the return of Xuanzang in the eighteenth year of the Zhenguan era. Any one of these people could have brought the painting style of Chang’an to Dunhuang, meaning that the works appearing in Cave 220(the construction of which began in the sixteenth year of the Zhenguan era) were in fact an inevitable result of cultural exchange between the Central Plains and Dunhuang.
