The Datong City Museum holds three Stone Statues of the Northern Wei Dynasty
Cultural Relics, No. 05, 2002, Cao Yanling (Librarian, Datong Museum)
In recent years, the Datong City Museum has exhibited for the first time three Buddhist stone statues in the collection, which has attracted the attention of visitors at home and abroad. Through a comparative study of the style of the Yungang Grottoes, these three stone statues belong to the middle and late works of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and were carved around the years of Taihe Zhizhengguang (477-524).
1. Two Buddhas sitting in a niche (Figure 1)
It was excavated in the southern suburbs of Datong in 1956 and entered our museum in 1958. Sandstone, height 31, base width 25 cm. Round arch niche, the niche is carved with two Buddhas and seated statues. This is based on the Lotus Sutra of the two Buddhas Shakya and Duobao sitting side by side, and there is an example of the Yungang Grottoes, which is closest to this statue with the 5th Cave South Wall Window East Wall Shakya and Duobao Two Buddhas and The Sitting Niche. It is the second phase of Yungang's work, and the carving time is before the late Taihe Qianluo. The statue of the second Buddha is high relief, 15 cm high, flesh bun, the face is plump and moderate, the head is slightly forward leaning, the eyes are slightly closed, the nose is slightly flattened, the corners of the mouth are upturned, and the two earlobes are shoulders. Dressed in a right-hand robe, with his right hand raised in front of his chest and his left hand on his lap. There is no carving in the frieze, and the traces of red color left behind are still recognizable. The upper part of the arch of the niche is carved with ten square Buddhas, 3 cm high, all in the form of ten meditations. The frieze carved erlong looked back, and the dragon's body was decorated with a reticule. On each side of the niche is a statue of a bodhisattva with a round head and a height of 7.6 cm. The niches are in relief with manichaean beads in the center, flanked by four-petaled curly-leaf honeysuckle and flanked by double lions. The lion stands with its head held high, its mouth open and its long tongue, and its tail is curled into a three-petal honeysuckle pattern, and the image is exaggerated and vivid.
2. Statue of Maitreya at the Foot (Figures 2 and 3)
In June 1980, Datong Chengnan Bearing Factory was excavated and entered the museum in the same year. Sandstone, round carving. The upper, middle and lower fractures of the original image are three segments, and the height of the passage is 21 cm after bonding. The front statue is a seated statue of a bodhisattva with a backlit foot in a boat-shaped flame pattern, backlit to the waist of the Sumi seat, with a seat width of 9.5 and a height of 4.5 cm. Maitreya sits on the seat of Leo at the center of the middle, 11.8 cm high, wearing a crown on his head, a necklace, a bracelet on his arm, a narrow sleeve with a crossed collar, a belt at the waist, and a bowl in both hands on his chest. The boat-shaped backlight is flanked by one offering to the bodhisattva and is 6.5 cm high. The Mani orb is carved in the middle of the waist of the throne, and the devotees on both sides prostrate themselves in prayer.
The back of the statue is divided into four compartments above the throne of Meru in cross intervals, with a frame on the side, and a standing statue of the devotee in a beard is carved inside each frame, of which the left two bodies are male figures, wearing a humble hat, wearing hakama pleats, belts, and boots on the feet; The two bodies on the right are female figures, wearing a fresh hat, a long coat with narrow sleeves with a cross-collar, and a skirt. The top is decorated with two lotuses, and the female provider on the right side is decorated with a lotus under her left arm. The four devotees hold five petals of honeysuckle in their hands and pray. The figure crown costume is the same size as the Ningxia Guyuan lacquer coffin painting equivalent to the Northern Wei Taihe Decade (486). From the lacquer coffin painting figure side list, it can be seen that the hakama pleated person is male, and the skirt wearer is female. It is also the same as the costume of the female attendant of the I style of the tomb of Sima Jinlong in the eighth year of Taihe (484). Then this statue should also be a relic of the early Taihe period. This kind of compositional subject matter is quite rare.
3. Roof niches (Fig. 4)
In 1987, the Northern Wei architectural site of Xixiaozhan Village in Datong City was excavated, which was placed on the side of the five pillars arranged in a curved ruler shape. Sandstone, well preserved. Imitation wooden structure roof shaped niche, through the height of 60, pedestal width of 61.5 cm. The central single line of the pedestal is inscribed with the Mani orb and the two providers. Nine ridges hanging on the top of the mountain, the original carvings at both ends of the main ridge, the tile ridge 36 ridges, the two sides of the Bofeng plate carved into a two-layer brick form. The two columns are separated left and right, the eight prism columns are obviously divided, the column head is placed in the Yi dou, the support of a bucket of three liters of chess, the use of substitute wood. Except for the two sides and the central one-bucket three-liter chess, all of them are orderly arranged right-angle herringbone offerings, centered on the central one-bucket three-liter offering, eight on one side, and a total of 16 groups of ° pillars to support the eaves. This kind of house style is more common in the Yungang Grottoes (the third-story roof niches on the west wall of the front room of The 10th Cave of Yungang, the roof niches on the south side of the third floor of the west wall of Cave 11, etc.), which belong to the second phase of the model. Between the two pillars, a Buddha and two servants are carved in the middle, the Buddha is 30.5 cm high, high relief, lined with a round head light and a boat-shaped backlight. The Buddha statue is a high bun, with slender eyes and long eyebrows, two earlobes to the neck, a beautiful face, and a slight smile. Long neck, shaved shoulders, swastika character on the chest. He wears a Buddhist robe on the outside, a monk's branch on the inside, the right placket is thrown on the left arm, the hem is open, and the hem is closed and folded parallel. The right hand is raised in front of the chest, and the left hand is placed on the lap with the corner of the garment to make a statement. Jie Jia sits on Leo. The lion's head on both sides is tongue-like, and there is a support from the earth god. The bodhisattva on both sides is 22 cm tall, in relief, with a peach-shaped head light, a flesh bun, a slender face, sleeves out, a strap hanging from the shoulder, a ring on both sides of the shoulder, and a drapery crossed over the abdomen. The bodhisattva on the left holds a bud in his left hand and droops in his right hand; The bodhisattva on the right holds the bottle in his left hand and places his right hand on his chest; Stand on a square seat. Under the seat, the two gods gushed out of the lift. This group of three-body statues belongs to the skinny bone qingxiang shape of the Late Northern Wei Dynasty, and the style is the same as that of the three-phase niche of Yungang. It dates from about Yanchang to Zhengguang (513-526).
Photo: Li Jiansheng Zhou Cedar