山西高平大佛山摩崖造像考——“云岡模式”南傳的重要例證=On the Dafoshan Cliff-side Sculptures in Gaoping, Shanxi——An Important Evidence of the Southward Diffusion of the “Yungang Mode”
The Dafoshan cliff-side sculptures are located in the remains of the main hall of an ancient Buddhist monastery built against the Dafoshan (Mount Huge Buddha) to the northwest of Zhangbi Village in Gaoping City, Shanxi Province. The top of the huge boulder on which the sculptures are located is 4.8 m above the present-day ground. On the obverse (south) of the boulder are the niched Buddhist sculptures of the Northern Wei Dynasty and on the reverse (north) are the niched Buddhist sculptures of the Ming Dynasty. The sculptures on the obverse were sponsored by the local guilds organized by the Zhang Family, the date of which was around the early stage of Taihe Era (477-489 AD) in the reign of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The style and motifs of the Buddhist sculptures on the obverse of the boulder are clearly adopted from the Yungang Grottoes in the Pingcheng Period of the Northern Wei Dynasty, which is significantly meaningful for the researches on the southward migration of the Yungang craftsmen.
