Taking the advantage of Mr. Kumagai's introduction of the interesting casket from Kucha brought back by the Ōtani Mission, I should like to present here, for reference, three caskets which the Pelliot Mission discovered in the same region and which are now in the Musée Guimet in Paris. Two of them, herein designated A and B, I was allowed by the authorities of the Musée Guimet to examine and photograph during my stay in Paris in 1951. The third one (C) was placed on public view for the first time in 1956 in the exhibition “Sculptures et Peintures de l'Asie Centrale-Inedits de la Mission Pelliot.” Mlle. Madeleine David of the same museum was kind enough to send me detailed photographs of it. I remain enormously indebted for all these kindnesses. All three, like the one brought back by the Ōtani Mission (herein referred to as the Ōtani casket), were made by hollowing one wooden block on a turning wheel. Each has a cylindrical body (container) and a conical cover, so that its overall appearance is what may be described as a hat box or face-powder box shape. The shape is similar to that of the caskets frequently found in wall-paintings in the Cave-temples at Kizil and Kum-tura, notably in the scenes of “distributing the sacred ashes” after the Buddha's death (Figs. 8 & 9). The sizes of the Pelliot caskets are slightly smaller than the Ōtani casket (A: height 16. 4cm., diametre 23.5 cm. ; B: height 21. 5cm., diametre 20.5cm. ; C: height 14. Ocm., diametre 20.5cm.). The wooden base was coated with a priming of white pigment, and subsequently painted all over in dark purple. Over this ground colour, the designs were drawn with white lines and accented with a colouring of yellow ochre. The colour scheme is simple but very effective. The surface was finally covered with a film of transparent oil, which served to protect the colours as well as to produce a beautiful gloss. (This method of applying oil over colour painting was introduced from China to Japan; its examples are found on some of the treasures in the Shōsō-in Reposity in Nara, as well as on various objects dating from the seventh to ninth centuries). The decorations of the three caskets have different motifs. Casket A (Pl. V; Figs. 6 & 7) has, on its cover, six medallions surrounding a central medallion which encloses a floral design. Each of the six outer medallions has a naked cherub playing music or dancing. The cherubim, like those on the cover of the Ōtani casket, have shaven heads except for the forelocks and side locks. This charateristic is also found on the figures of heavenly beings in the wall-paintings at Shrine 3, Miran. The cherubim are similar in many respects also to those engraved on the bronze bowl of the post-Gupta period which Coomaraswamy mentioned in Ostasiatische Zeitschrift (1930) as a northwest Indian object. Half of the cherubim are musicians, playing respectively a harp, a horizontal drum, and small paired drums connected by a string. Instead of wings the cherubim on this casket have capes hanging on their backs. (These are interesting as being illustrative of the transitition from winged heavenly figures of Western origin to the Chinese-style wingless apsaras with fluttering scarves.) The medallions as well as the cover itself are hemmed with bands of triangular tooth shaped pattern; this border design is uncommon, while the “pearl bands” as on the Ōtani casket is a more recurrent motif. Between the six medallions are bird figures such as were seen on the Ōtani casket, but those on this piece are conventionalized depictions of hansa (a type of swan in India). The sides of the container have bands of tooth shaped pattern above and below, and the large space between them is filled with decorative patterns of wavy stems with palmette-form leaves. In comparison with this, the design of Casket B (Figs. 10-12) is cruder and simpler and is inferior in its state of preservation. The cover also has a floral design at the centre, surrounded by fi
