帝后禮佛圖：大唐石刻線畫與敦煌紙墨畫稿=Scenes of the Emperor and Queen Worshipping the Buddha: Great Tang Line Drawings of Stone Inscriptions and the Ink Paintings of Dunhuang
唐代=Tang dynasty; 帝后供養線刻圖=ling drawing of the Emperor and Queen presenting offerings to the Buddha; 敦煌=Dunhuang; 帝后禮佛粉本圖=draft painting of the Emperor and Queen worshipping the Buddha
This paper presents a comparative study of two items newly discovered at the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang：a line drawing taken from a stone inscription entitled “The Emperor and Queen of the Great Tang Presenting Offerings to the Buddha,” and draft paintings of a scene depicting “The Emperor and Queen Worshiping the Buddha.” By comparing these items with the images of emperors in Dunhuang murals, this paper reveals the profound influence that images of imperial rulers had on Buddhist artistic expression. Although neither the line drawing nor the draft paintings were ever used as the basis for a large-scale cave temple painting, they do indicate that artists incorporated political themes in their creation of Buddhist artwork, particularly the idea of imperial political figures finding asylum in religious observance. This further indicates that the iconographical spread of “husband-wife, family and political art” in Tang dynasty China was not only ideal for the enlightenment of lay practitioners, but also expressed the wish of the people for a prosperous mother country, peaceful life, and deities that would answer their prayers.
