Author: Zhong Yan
Source: "Chinese Art Research" WeChat public account
This article was originally published in the 33rd issue of Chinese Art Research
Xiangyu, as a means of transportation, has been repeatedly recorded in ancient Chinese documents, and a large number of image materials have also been preserved. The study of elephant public opinion has been covered by the academic community. Li Binghai's "Human-God Reciprocal Palace, Xiao Apparatus and Han Dynasty Literature and Human-God Relationship" discusses the phenomenon of human-god co-instrumentation in Xiangyu, pointing out the psychology of people at that time who longed to communicate with the immortal world. Yang Zhishui's "Examination of Buddhist Art Masterpieces" discusses the morphological aspects of the ancient elephant image remains in India, the Western Regions of China and the Dunhuang region, and points out the reference relationship between them. Yang Zhishui's "Xiangyu - Also on the "Elephant Play" in the Portrait Stone of Qingzhou Fujia Northern Qi" analyzes in detail the shape of Xiangyu seen in the Guizi Grottoes and Dunhuang Grottoes, and discusses the source of Xiangyu images in the "Xiangxia Pictures" seen in Qingzhou. Wu Xiaoli's "Introduction to the "Xiangyu" and "Tribute Elephant" of the Yuan Dynasty" discusses the "tribute elephant" system in the tribute system of the Yuan Dynasty, and points out that "Xiangyu" has always been used as a form of public opinion in the Yuan Dynasty to tour the two capitals, so as to highlight the supremacy of the Yuan emperor. The works of your predecessors have helped us a lot to understand this means of transportation.
There are more than ten images of elephant public opinion in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, although Qianxian has discussed the shape and source of the image, but according to the author's observation, the image of the elephant public opinion of the Mogao Grottoes may be more diverse in terms of shape, and its decorative pattern is also more complex, so there is still room for further in-depth research on the image of Dunhuang murals.
1. Image of the Mogao Grottoes
The images seen in the Mogao Caves date from the 6th to 10th centuries AD. It is described as follows:
The "Prince's Travels Map" on the south slope of the roof of Cave 296 of the Northern Zhou Dynasty of the Mogao Grottoes contains two earlier images of the Mogao Grottoes (Figures 1 and 2). The two pictures are on the same wall, slightly different, Figure 1 is like a lotus pattern on the back of the felt, a person kneeling on the felt, the body is fenced on both sides, like a box, and very similar to a traditional Chinese house, its interior is draped, and there are decorative objects like blown up by the wind on the top, giving a visual dynamic impression, its box is square, but its material is more difficult to distinguish, it may be cloth or wood. The felt on the back of Figure 2 is similar to Figure 1, except that the body is in a pointed tent-like object, surrounded by shelters, and from the dynamic effect of being blown by the wind, it should be a lighter fabric.
Figure 1 Mogao Grottoes 296 South slope, northern Zhou (Image source: Dunhuang Grottoes Collection, Traffic Scroll)
Figure 2 Southern slope of the top of Cave 296 of Mogao Grottoes, Northern Zhou (Image source: Dunhuang Grottoes and Traffic Scroll)
The elephant public opinion picture (Fig. 3) in the Buddhist story painting on the south wall of Cave 61 of the Mogao Grottoes has a large number of elephants, although the plot is different, but the shape is basically the same, all of them are four corner pavilions on the square seat of Meru, and the occupants are placed in it. It is worth noting that at the top stands a bird-like object resembling a phoenix. From its shape and top position, it resembles the ancient bird-shaped wind vane - Xiangfeng Wu. In early China, the pavilion was both a local administrative unit and a military facility, built on the four-corner watchtower of a settlement, city or fort, or a post station. It is used for observation, observation, or a resting place for messengers. Later, it gradually tended to be civil, and in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the pavilion appeared in the garden and became a landscape, divided into triangular pavilion, four-corner pavilion, hexagonal pavilion and octagonal pavilion, and the shape of Xiangyu in the painting adopted the style of the pavilion, which may be influenced by garden architecture, and this style of Xiangyu is rare in Mogao cave murals.
Figure 3 South wall of Cave 61 of Mogao Grottoes, Five Dynasties (Image source: Dunhuang Grottoes Complete Collection and Traffic Scroll)
The image of the "messenger riding the elephant" in the "Sage and Fool Sutra Brahma Asking for Six Things" on the south wall of Cave 85 of the late Tang Dynasty in Mogao Grottoes presents an image of a four-corner fence-like bed, which Mr. Yang Sen has mentioned in the section on bed and bedding furniture in his Dunhuang murals, and has made a systematic study on this source issue, which will not be repeated. In addition, there are several pictures on the north wall of Cave 98 of Mogao Grottoes, but due to the blurred mural, only its general outline can be seen, that is, the elephant has a bed on its back, and is decorated with openwork guardrails around it, which looks like a pavilion fence, and people sit or stand in it.
In the column of statues offered on the east wall of the front room of Cave 386 of the Late Tang Dynasty (Figure 4), there is an elephant decorated with flame beads, from which we can clearly see that the elephant has a lotus cushion on its back, and a square pedestal is placed on it, which is different from the four-corner fence shape of the front unveiled in that its fence is not openwork, and there are flame pillars on all four sides for decoration, and the figure lies in it. The elephant also has a flame bead at the end of its back for decoration.
Figure 4 East wall of the front room of Cave 386 of Mogao Grottoes, late Tang Dynasty (Image source: Dunhuang Grottoes Complete Collection and Traffic Scroll)
In the above list of elephant legends, from the top form, it can be summarized as having a roof, such as cave 296 and cave 61 types; Uncovered, as in cave 85, cave 98 and cave 386 types. In terms of seat shape, there are simpler fence forms, such as the "messenger riding elephant map" on the south wall of Cave 85; and intricate flame bead decorative fence forms, such as the "Statue Column on the East Wall of the Front Room of Cave 386".
At the same time, from the shape of its base, there are Sumeru base style elephants, as seen in Cave 61, are all Sumeru square seats on the four corner pavilion, this style is also seen in the "Puxian Transformation" on the south side of the west wall of Cave 159 of the Tang Dynasty in the Mogao Grottoes, the white elephant has a fenced Meru seat on its back, Puxian sits in the shape of a fall, and the elephant and Meru seat are richly decorated. See also the South Wall of Cave 9 of the Late Tang Dynasty of the Mogao Caves (Fig. 5), the West Wall of Cave 98 of the Fifth Dynasty, and the West Wall of Cave 146 of the Fifth Dynasty (Fig. 6), where the elephant is placed on a Meru base and a four-corner or hexagonal guardrail, in which the figure sits. The Meru base belongs to the traditional Chinese architectural pedestal form. Therefore, this kind of elephant built on the base of Meru has the meaning of relying on the foundation of the building.
Figure 5 South wall of Cave 9 of Mogao Grottoes, Late Tang Dynasty (Image source: Dunhuang Grottoes and Traffic Scroll)
Figure 6 West wall of Cave 146 of Mogao Grottoes, Five Dynasties (Image source: Dunhuang Grottoes Complete Collection and Traffic Painting)
It can be seen that although there are not many elephant images in the Mogao Grottoes, they appeared earlier, and from the perspective of their shape, the forms are diverse, the state is different, and the decorative patterns are rich in connotation. So how are the shapes and decorative patterns of these icons affected? What factors are involved? Mr. Yang Zhishui pointed out: "In the process of spreading Buddhist art, Party B always decides to choose according to its own knowledge background and technical background, whether it is a schema, or a shape, or a detailed composition. In other words, when the Mogao cave painters created the images of Xiangyu in these murals, they painted Xiangyu based on the materials accumulated by what they saw and heard, and this material is most likely the pastel style passed down through the generations, or other material forms currently seen. Therefore, the investigation of the origin of the image of the Mogao Caves should be explored in the context of the circulation of elephant art at that time.
2. Images seen in literature and images
Xiangyu has long been recorded in ancient Chinese documents, and Sima Xiangru's "Shanglin Fu" of the Western Han Dynasty describes Xiangyu, and its text says: "The green and the larvae are in the east box, and the elephant public opinion is in the Western Qing." "There is no written reference to the shape of the elephant public opinion recorded in this uncovered document, and the wrong gold, silver and bronze carriage umbrella of the Western Han Dynasty unearthed in Sanpanshan, Dingxian County, Hebei Province, is painted with elephant public opinion. From the perspective of the form, there are only three people on the back of the elephant, and there is no device such as "public opinion", which Zheng Luanming calls elephant public opinion, which is quite incomprehensible and needs to be examined. But it gives us a certain amount of room for imagination, perhaps in the early Chinese style of public opinion. In addition, the "Book of Song, Fu Ruizhi" contains: "The elephant charioter, the spirit of the mountain." The king Deze flows through the four realms. And the "Jin Shu Public Opinion Zhi" contains: "Elephant car, Han book is the first." After Emperor Wu Taikang pacified Wu, Nanyue sacrificed elephants and ordered them to be driven by a large cart, and dozens of people were encouraged to ride them with the yellow gate, so that the Vietnamese could ride them. ...... The Chinese and Korean dynasties drove the book of halogen, first like a car, advocated one, thirteen people, and the middle road. The concept of elephant car is mentioned here, "Later Hanshu Guangwu Emperor Jixia" "Baoche, public opinion" Li Xian's note: "Public opinion, the general name of the car." The "Che Public Opinion" article in "All Scriptures and Sound Meanings" quotes the "Jade Chapter": "Public opinion is also the general name of the car." "The elephant car here can also be called elephant opinion. The Book of Han Lile Zhi II has: "Xiang Zaiyu, Bai Jixi, eat manna, drink Rongquan." Shi Gu noted: "Xiangzai, Xiangyuye." Mountain out of the elephant, Rui Ying car also. It can be seen that when the Tang people annotated the elephant public opinion of this material, they called each other public opinion cars, of course, this elephant car can also be called the elephant driving car. "Say Wen Jie Zi" explains "driving": the horse is also in the yoke. "Note" quotes the "Legend of Mao" as follows: yoke, wuqiye, wuqi is the wu peck of "Shi Name",...... Its strangler is known as a black peck... The words of driving are added to the horse by the car. The elephant car contained in the Book of Jin is used as a ritual to appear at the front end of the halogen book, driven by a large car, can carry dozens of people, you can imagine the size of this car, this kind of elephant car early physical images are difficult to see, but for the image of elephant driving, Shaanxi Changwu County Museum has this kind of elephant public opinion in the blue and white porcelain jar of the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, which can be seen.
Fig. 7 Wrong gold, silver and copper umbrella collar line drawing excavated in Sanpanshan, Dingxian County, Hebei Province (according to Zheng Luanming's "Analysis of the Content of Wrong Gold, Silver and Copper Umbrella Decorations in Sanpanshan in Dingzhou")
From the appearance point of view, Figure 8 shows us the image of elephant driving style, although there was already such elephant driving in the Liu and Song dynasties of Southern China and later the Tang Dynasty, but it is quite different from the elephant back public opinion of the Mogao cave mural, and it is likely that the two sources are different, so let's not discuss it for the time being.
Figure 8 Line drawing of the blue and white porcelain jar of the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasty in the collection of the Changwu County Museum of Shaanxi Province (according to Wu Hongyan's "Story Map of the Late Yuan and Early Ming Dynasties, Blue and White Large Porcelain Jar")
Figure 9 shows a person sitting in the elephant back of the public opinion, the shape of the public opinion is box-shaped, which is similar to the elephant public opinion system in Cave 296 of the Northern Zhou Caves of Mogao Grottoes, and the era is comparable, reflecting a relationship of origin. Figure 10 shows a Kuangbed-style elephant-backed public opinion, surrounded by flame beads, which is similar to the Mogao Grottoes Late Tang Cave 386, but from the age point of view, it is obvious that the Mogao Grottoes are much later, if you put aside the decorative pattern, only in terms of the Kuangbed's elephant public opinion style, most of the such elephant public opinion in the Mogao Grottoes is within the time frame of the late Tang Dynasty, which is later than the Fu family brigade Northern Qi stone carving. From the available pictorial sources, the earliest area where the box-like image appeared was in present-day India. The Sanchi Pagoda carvings in India contain two elephant carvings from the 1st to the 1st century BC (Figs. 11, Fig. 12).
Figure 9 Elephant map in the statue tower excavated from Nannieshui, Qin County, Shanxi, from the Northern Wei to the Northern Qi period (Photo courtesy of Wang Youkui)
Figure 10 Line drawing of the Northern Qi stone carvings of the Fujia Brigade in the south of Yidu County, Shandong Province (this line depiction is based on: Volume 8 of the Complete Works of Chinese Portrait Stones)
Figure 11 Line drawing of the Sanchi Pagoda in India (according to the illustration shown in Yang Zhishui's "Examination of Buddhist Art Famous Objects")
Figure 12 Line drawing of the carving of the Sanchi Pagoda in India (according to the illustration shown in Yang Zhishui's "Examination of Buddhist Art Masterpieces")
Figure 11 is like a statue of public opinion, the figure sits in a frame public opinion, and there is a block on the two sides of the frame. The frame of Figure 12 is clearly visible, and the left and right sides and back of the characters are blocked, as if the characters are encased in it. This style is very similar to the statue tower Xiangyu excavated from Nanneshui in Qin County, Shanxi Province, and the Xiangyu in Cave 296 of Mogao Grottoes shown in Figure 9. As for the Kuangbed-style elephant, it has been found in the murals of Cave 9 at the site of the Yanqi Seven-Gexing Buddhist architecture in present-day Xinjiang (Figure 13). The site dates from the 7th century to the Uighur period. It can be seen that the Kuangbed-style elephant public opinion seen in the stone carvings of the Northern Qi of the Fu Family Brigade in the south of Yidu County, Shandong Province is earlier in age.
Figure 13 Mural painting of the Buddhist architectural site of Yanqi Qige Star (Image source: "Xinjiang Ancient Buddhist Temple: Achievements of Investigation from 1905 to 1907")
Through the comparison of the above documents and images, we can see that the basic origin of the image public opinion seen in the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang "comes from a foreign land", and the specific circulation process has been discussed in detail by Mr. Yang Zhishui, which will not be repeated. However, from the image data seen so far, most of them are manifested as relatively simple sketches of thick lines, and the elephants of the Mogao cave murals are different from the exotic style in terms of specific shapes and decorative patterns, whether it is the Northern Zhou Dynasty or the Tang Dynasty, which reflects the trend of diversification and complexity.
Third, the analysis of the pattern of public opinion in the murals of the Mogao Caves
Mr. Yang Zhishui divided the Mogao cave murals into three categories: tent type, pavilion style, and lathe type. However, if you carefully compare the specific decorations, bases and other forms of Xiangyu in the mural, it may be more diverse. Based on the research results of predecessors and relevant literature, the author describes them as follows:
(1) Housing tent type
As shown in Figure 1, it is the product of the combination of a single-sided sloped roof shape and a tent-shaped niche in Buddhist architecture, and we can explore its origin from two aspects: decorative patterns and modeling features. First look at the decorative pattern, in the picture the drapery pattern is painted with an inverted triangle tassel pattern continuous pattern. This style is very similar to the Luoyang Northern Wei portrait stone square flat roof tent (Fig. 14). If you take it apart, this inverted triangle pattern has appeared as early as the pattern of painted pottery in ancient times, and the combined pattern of inverted triangle on the drapery can be found in the portrait stone of the Han Dynasty in Shandong, and we also find that there are also such images in the portrait stone and Yungang grottoes of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and a new form of expression has emerged, that is, the drapery pattern has a continuous pattern of superimposed inverted triangle tassel pattern, such as the ornament at the junction of the roof and the four walls of the small cave where the left waki attendant is located in Cave 19 of Yungang (Figure 15). In his article "From Tent Niche to Tent Niche - An Overlooked Problem in the Grottoes of the Northern Dynasties", Tang Zhongming classified such patterns as Class A patterns, and believed that this pattern is the most basic kind of tent niche ornaments, and its image runs through the whole of cave niche decoration, and can be seen in cave niches from the middle and late Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang dynasties, and is often used as a composite pattern with other patterns. The Mogao Grottoes have an inverted triangle pattern on this drapery, which appears in Cave 296 (Fig. 1) and Cave 297 (Fig. 17) built during the Northern Zhou Dynasty, but it is worth noting that the sky fence wall of Cave 296 is superimposed with an inverted triangle (Fig. 16). This pattern of the Mogao Grottoes is much later than the Northern Wei portrait stone and the Yungang Grottoes built between 452 and 499 AD.
Figure 14 Luoyang Northern Wei portrait Shi Pingding tent line (Image source: Lu Zhaoyin, "A Brief Discussion on the Tents of the Two Han Dynasties, Wei and Jin")
Figure 15 Line drawing of Cave 19 in Yungang (Image source: Tang Zhongming, "From Tent-shaped Niche to Tent-shaped Niche - An Overlooked Problem in the Northern Dynasty Grottoes")
Figure 16 South wall of Cave 296 of Mogao Grottoes, Northern Zhou (Image source: Dunhuang Grottoes Complete Collection · Pattern Scroll)
Figure 17 South wall of Cave 297 of Mogao Grottoes, Northern Zhou (Image source: Dunhuang Grottoes Complete Collection · Pattern Scroll)
From the perspective of shape characteristics, Figure 1 shows that the back of the elephant is similar to the house-house tent type, which is very similar to our common square niche, so we can understand it as a tent-shaped square niche. According to scholars' research, the appearance of tent niches in the western region is relatively late, except for Dunhuang Cave 285, which has a clear Western Wei period (the fourth year of the Great Unification, 538 AD), all other tent niches were excavated during the Northern Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, the western niche may have appeared only under the influence of the eastern region. From this, it can be deduced that the square tent-shaped niche on the back of the elephant in Cave 296 of the Northern Week of Mogao Grottoes should be foreign, and the time is relatively late. Looking at the Buddhist statue from the Northern Wei to Northern Qi periods in Qin County, Shanxi Province (Figure 9), the elephant stands on the back of a box-shaped public opinion, and the figure sits in it, which is no different from the shape of Figure 9 above, and this style should be made according to the cave niche style from its regional characteristics. In terms of time, this style predates the appearance of Xiangyu during the Northern Zhou period of the Mogao Grottoes.
According to the above discussion, we believe that the elephant of Cave 296 of Mogao Grottoes has a certain relationship with the Central Plains region, whether from the perspective of decorative patterns or modeling characteristics.
(2) Bucket tent type
As shown in Figure 2, "The elephant is draped on a felt decorated with a lotus motif, and one person kneels on the felt, and the back is erected with an umbrella, so it can be regarded as public opinion." Xiao Mo based on Liu Xi's "Shi Name": "Dou tent is dou, the shape is like covering the douye". It is pointed out: "The method is to first erect four tent posts, and then form the top of the bucket with horizontal and oblique poles, and at the joints of each member is a tent hook shaped like a tee and a four-way cast of copper or iron, and each member is inserted into the empty air pipe of the tent hook, and then covered with fabric. According to available information, this type of small tent is common with a square bucket roof, but it may also be a spire. Therefore, from the perspective of the whole image, it seems that the "rear vertical umbrella" is not accurate, like the object on the back is in the shape of a pointed bucket tent, and the image blown by the wind indicates that it is covered with fabric, so the bucket tent type is more suitable for the actual image. The umbrella, earlier called "helium", "Say Wen Xie Zi" said: "Helium, Kasa Gai also." The stalk is like a cover, which is now the rain. "Taiping Yuyan" quotes the "Popular Text": "Zhang Wei shelters from the rain, which is called a cover." "It shows that the tent has a handle, which is held by a human hand to protect from the rain, and the elephant in the picture has at least two tent poles on its back, similar to the former Mr. Xiao Mo's description of the bucket tent, and the tent is a high-level facility used by the nobility in ancient China. This is consistent with the status of Prince Zentomo shown in the picture. The 繖 is a common utensil, which can be used by noble commoners.
In the Han Dynasty of China, tents were used to offer to gods, and the "Han Wu Story" states: "With glazed pearl jade, bright moon and night light, and miscellaneous treasures of the world as a tent, followed by B account, A to live in the gods, B to defend itself." "When Buddhism was introduced to China, Sun Ruxun studied the application of tents in Buddhism, and believed that people treated Buddhism as the same as the Chinese immortal fangs, and also used tents to offer Buddhas, and people believed that using tents to place Buddha statues was the highest courtesy for Buddhas. His judgment is based on the records of Duan Chengshi's "Records of Temple Pagodas" and Gu Yanwu's "Records of Successive Dynasties", which are relatively true and credible. It can be seen that tents have already appeared in early Chinese popular beliefs, and this kind of tent-like elephant public opinion may be a new style made by Mogao cave craftsmen under the influence of the artistic characteristics and traditional ideas of the Central Plains.
(3) Pavilion style
It is particularly worth mentioning the elephant picture (Figure 3) in the Buddhist story on the south wall of Cave 61 of the Mogao Grottoes, in which the four-corner pavilion differs from our common four-corner pavilion in that it has a bird-like object on the top, as mentioned above. In his humble work "Xiangfeng Wu in Dunhuang Mural Paintings", it is said that Xiangfeng Wu is not only a wind measurement tool, but also used to decorate spiritual platforms and buildings, and is used in ceremonial books to show majesty. According to ancient documents, Xiangyu is not only a car of auspicious rui, but also a special seat for people with prestige in Buddhist rituals. Then, for the 10 elephant public opinion of Cave 61, its nature is a combination of the elephant public opinion of the Western Regions and the public opinion of the Central Plains, which is used to highlight the noble identity of Mrs. Maya and express the use of elephant public opinion, and the painter is also painted according to the characteristics of this line.
(4) Kuangbed
The origin of the Kuang bed type elephant is the upper Kuang bed decoration is fenced under the elephant body, and its origin can be explored from the earliest appearance of the Kuang bed and the earliest images of the combination of the two, the origin of the Kuang bed has been discussed in detail. The earliest images seen in the Kuangbed-style Xiangyu are a group of Northern Qi stone carvings unearthed in the Fujia Brigade in the south of Yidu County, Shandong Province (Fig. 10), while in the Mogao cave murals two styles appear, the simple decoration of the four-corner fence and the flame bead (Fig. 4), the former has the shape characteristics compared with the "Kuang bed" found in archaeological excavations, surrounded by railings, belonging to the traditional "Kuang bed" style. The shape of the latter is very similar to the "elephant play picture" unearthed by the Fu family brigade in the south of Yidu County, Shandong. Below we focus on the flame-bead-shaped "Kuangbed" elephant.
Regarding the Fu family's brigade's "elephant play", Zheng Yan believes: "The Fu family portrait stone borrows a lot of painting samples from Sogdian art. And "before and after the Northern Dynasties, there were some powders with distinctive Sogdian cultural colors that were circulated and used in the Han Dynasty." Sun Wujun believes: "The key patterns that appear in the tombs of the Sogdians in China include the joint bead pattern, the treasure bead pattern, the sun and moon pattern, the flame pattern, and the lotus pattern. The beaded pattern, sun and moon pattern, flame pattern, etc. are closely related to Zoroastrianism, while the jewel pattern and lotus pattern are closely related to Buddhism. "Combined with the above research, the center of the Fu family's portrait stone is an elephant, the head of the elephant is made of jade and bouquet of flowers, the elephant is humped on the back of a large square pedestal, the seat bar has six pillars, the stigma is flame-shaped, and the bottom of the square seat is covered with lotus ornaments. It shows that the flame pattern and lotus pattern commonly used by the Sogdians appear in this "elephant opinion". The Mogao Grottoes Late Tang Cave 386 offers the patron "Xiangyu", with a large square seat on the back of the elephant, with multiple flame-like pillars on the seat railing, and lotus ornaments under the square seat, and its shape is very similar to the "Xiangyu" in the Fu family's portrait stone. The difference is that the tail of this elephant is decorated with a Mani orb pattern supported by a lotus pattern, and probably due to the relationship between the lotus pattern and the jewel pattern and Buddhism, in a Buddhist cave such as the Mogao Grottoes, the painter deliberately added this decoration. Regarding this phenomenon, Lu Qingfu believes that since the Dunhuang area mainly believes in Buddhism, strong Buddhist forces will inevitably infiltrate the Sogdian people and their Zoroastrianism, so there is a Buddhistization tendency of Zoroastrianism. Regarding the Buddhistization tendency of the Sogdians, Mr. Zheng Binglin also wrote a special article to argue. In fact, we can further analyze from the "Xiangyu" picture of Cave 386 of the Mogao Grottoes that this graphic art has a Sogdian factor, with a figure lying in the square seat, and the face of the figure appears as a semi-lateral image. Sun Wujun pointed out that compared with the Han and Xianbei tombs, the tomb owner statues in the Sogdian tombs are much richer, and most of them are half-sided, and this half-side expression should come from the secular art tradition of Sogdian murals. Therefore, the artistic origin of this Sogdian style elephant that appears in the Dunhuang murals can be traced back to the stone carvings in the Qingzhou region of Northern Qi, which may be the result of the Sogdians coming to the Central Plains through the Silk Road trade route since the Middle Ages, and they combined their national characteristics with the Central Plains style to form the Qingzhou stone carving style of Northern Qi, and the powder formed by this style fed back to Hexi, showing the image of the elephant public opinion of Cave 386 of the late Tang Mogao Grottoes.
(5) Meru base type
Meru-za is an iconic form of the pedestal of ancient Chinese architecture and was first introduced to China through Buddhism. Chang Keshi pointed out that Meru was used for tower seats in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and temple seats in the Tang Dynasty. As seen in the murals, from the Northern Wei Dynasty to the early Tang Dynasty, the outline of Meru Seat was relatively simple, and it was all straightened and picked out. From the Middle Tang Dynasty onwards, the form of Meru-za with a reclining and lotus covering the waist began to appear. In the Song Dynasty, Meru-za had two types: brick and stone. The brick Meru-za is made of 13 layers of brick stacked on top of each other. The characteristics of the Song-style Meru-za are many layers, except for the astringent flat layer and the kunmen and pillar layers, each layer is very thin, the overall shape is tall and delicate, the carving is slender and delicate, and the individual threads are easy to freeze and crack. The Song-style Meru-za maintains the characteristics of fine layering and delicate carvings of the wooden Meru-za. Yang Xinping believes that around the time of the Tang Dynasty, Meru-za underwent great changes, with more layers of astringent layers and more complex outer contours... At the time of the Song Liaojin, Meru-za was already very mature and rich, and the form was further complicated and procedural. The two outline the style of Meru-za from the Northern Dynasty to the Song Dynasty. The Meru seat of the elephant of Tang Cave 159 in the Mogao Grottoes is relatively simple, and only one layer of overlapping can be clearly seen on the covered lotus, while the elephant of Cave 9 of the late Tang Dynasty in Mogao Grottoes, its lotus base, the upper quadrangular Meru seat, the Meru seat is in the form of a girdle, the upper is the stacked layer, at this time the stacked layer is significantly more than Cave 159. Looking at the elephant of Cave 146 of the fifth generation of Mogao Grottoes, this Meru seat is a hexagonal silhouette, the latter two are roughly the same except for the different contour shapes, and the number of overlapping layers shown in the image should be multiple layers. Therefore, the Middle Tang, late Tang to the Five Dynasties period, basically formed a more continuous image time series, its Meru seat stacked style from less to more, confirming Chang Keshi, Yang Xinping's statement, but it should be pointed out that Yang Xinping believes that "about to the Tang Dynasty, Meru Seat has changed greatly, the overlapping style has increased", the concept of the Tang Dynasty is too vague and broad, if according to the display of the three pictures above, it should start from the Middle Tang.
As for the lotus base under the superimposed layer, according to the above unveiled picture, after the Middle Tang Dynasty, it began to appear in the form of a Meru seat that applied the upper and lower levels of the girdle and covered the lotus. And this shi lian under the waist also inherited the style of the development of Meru-za in the Tang Dynasty. But the difference is that this kind of girdle does not have a lower fang, and is directly placed on the back of the elephant with a lotus to meet the needs of the entire contour of the elephant's back, which is rare at present. It can be said that it is a change, this change may be because the position of Meru-za is an elephant back, and the elephant back is not a flat ground, it is an arched face, if according to the normal Meru base, it can only be placed on the plane, for this arched surface is not applicable, so the painter may have combined the needs of reality when shaping this image, and remodeled.
IV. Conclusion
More than ten images of elephant public opinion existing in Mogao Grottoes, their basic shape originated from foreign lands as Yang Zhishui pointed out, but after the elephant public opinion entered the Central Plains, it absorbed a variety of cultural factors, showing the characteristics of diversity and complexity, if you look at its shape from the decorative pattern and base, etc., it may not be more than three simple shape categories, but there are five categories such as house tents, bucket tents, pavilions, Kuang beds, Meru bases, etc., and from the origin of these five types of styles, it has a certain connection with the elephant public opinion images in the Central Plains. It also shows its own regional characteristics, showing the mutual absorption and integration of Dunhuang with the inland areas of the Central Plains and even the Western Regions.
Author's institution: Dunhuang Studies Information Center, Dunhuang Academy
Notes omitted, please refer to the original text for the full version.
Editor: Xiang Yu
Proofreader: Shui Shou
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