By Devin Pruthi
The Silk Road produced a great variety of art in style and medium. My analysis will be on an object that veers from the conventional in both of these aspects. The piece is referred to as Three Heads and is a fragment of a much larger wall painting. It is originally from the Kizil Caves which are located in China. This area of China was an important Buddhist site, and was commonly traveled by monks on their way to visit holy locations in India. These paintings and caves were excavated by German archaeologists and sent to Berlin where a number were damaged or even destroyed during the Second World War. Works like these contain cultural significance because it helps historians and art historians due to the diverse nature of travelers that visited here. There are distinguishable aspects of both Indian and Chinese Buddhism as well as a number of other influences.
The depiction has been slightly diminished due to the gradual weathering over time but the main aspects of the three heads remain. Shown are three heads next two each other. Each image is colored with a vibrant bright blue and green. The figures have oval faces with elongated narrow noses. Additionally, their eyes are depicted as half open and all three have small mouths and lips. All three are shown with three-quarter view, which means as opposed to being painted from the front of the face they are all turned about a quarter of the way to the side. The figure on the left has grayish skin outlined and shaded with a peach orange tinge. This face is shown ordained with an ornamental headdress with beads and a flower on the top. Since erosion over time has eliminated the surrounding areas of this figure's face, we are unable to tell if this head was depicted with a halo or not but nonetheless, due to the artistic characteristics that we can see we can characterize it as a Buddha head.
The figure in the center is shown similarly to the first one but with slightly less deterioration. We see a similar color scheme as far as the skin color, shading, and surrounding headwear goes. We see this figure with a third eye in the center of its forehead and a slightly different style of headdress. This headdress is a geometric form, with two or more protruding decorations concluded with a circular shape over the figure's deep blue hair. Due to the less erosion surrounding this figure, we can see a halo composed of those vibrant blue, green and turquoise colors encompassing the head. Additionally, there is a glimpse into other garments and accessories this figure may have been adorned in. Along the neckline, there is what may have either been a necklace or a decorated neckline of an article of clothing shown by similar beads or sparkles as on both of these figures headdresses.
The final head is potentially the most interesting and different. We see this figure depicted with blue skin and none of the adornments of the previous two figures. We can also see facial hair in a burgundy or dark red color which differs from the others as well. This face is also facing in the opposite direction as the other two and it seems while the other faces are looking almost into the distance, this blue one is looking at the other faces. Additionally, this face is not shown with the ornate elaborate headwear as the others. The third head is shown with a simple white turban that drapes down the right side of his face. There may have been a jewel or decorations on the front center of his turban but due to the deterioration of the wall we are unable to tell. The blue color of his skin is often associated with the medicine Buddha used for healing and other medicinal properties and prayers.
A similar work that we can analyse is a similar wall painting fragment however this one is from Khotan. Khotan was also in China, similar to the Kizil Caves, but on a different part of the Silk Route so there are different influences and styles utilized. The primary difference is the significant drop off in deterioration on this second fragment. This allows for a much more full and comprehensive analysis of the art. We are able to see almost the full body for these figures, both of whom have the grayish white colored skin similar to two of the figures from the Kizil Caves. The figures however, are not nearly as ornamentally decorated. We simply see them with the traditional Buddhist hairstyle of a widow's peak and a bun. Additionally, both these figures have simple robes, one is black and one in the traditional orange color used in a lot of Buddhist artwork. We cannot compare this aspect to the other work however due to the fact that the bodies in the first piece were eroded. Finally, the figure in the black robe, and potentially the other figure as well, both have their hands clasped in a Buddhist mudra.
However, there are some discernible similarities when comparing the two discussed wall fragments. For example, the facial features remain relatively constant. The viewer can see the partially closed eyes, elongated nose, and small mouth with a soft smile on all of the figures. Additionally, all of the faces are shown in a three quarter view. There is also a similar color scheme used. While the fragment from Khotan does not have the vibrant blue and green from the first piece, or it is not visible anymore, we do see a similar orange shade used in both paintings. This orange color was a commonly used shade in Buddhist artwork specifically painting. We often see it used as figures’ clothing, background decorations, and shading.
By Brooke Bidwell
The anonymous 6-7th century wall painting fragment Three Buddhist Heads from Cave 224 of the Kizil Caves of Kucha represents the incredibly vast impact that the multicultural influences had on Chinese art. It is a color on fresco which embodies new aesthetic ideas that Indian Buddhism shared with China. Most apparently, the colors stand out as daringly bright and regal; combining the nearly lapis lazuli shade of blue with the minty blue cyan, and light tone of orange is a testament to a cross pollination of cultural influence. Prior to the Silk Road, trade routes did not allow for such multicultural communication, and goods, such as the colors themselves, weren’t nearly as available.
The figure painting combines novel techniques at a time when artists learned from cultural backgrounds that brought new ideas; the combination of soft color applied to fine lines is a contrast which embodies the more traditional Chinese figure style of fine lines with an abundance of exciting color. The two orange figure heads on the left look over peacefully at the blue figure head in the right corner, who is wearing different attire. The lapis and cyan blue aura around the center figures face takes visual precedence; it is the largest of the three, from what it visible amongst the ruins. The plethora of color in The Three Buddhist Heads has its roots in Central Asian painting. At the same time, it showcases the departure from one dimensional, black and white aesthetics of earlier Chinese figure painting. As proposed by WU Tung in “Tales from the Land of the Dragons: 1,000 years of Chinese Painting,” this development from early Chinese painting shares it’s formative roots with Indian Buddhist, as well as Central Asian Buddhism: “Emergent Chinese painting techniques like the mogu (boneless) and the aotu (concavo-convex) styles may well have originated from Indian prototypes, evident in the Ajanta cave painting (e.g. 21 1286 in the Museum’s collection), or Central Asian ones like the Buddhist murals of Bamiyan, hot, Miran and Kizil.”(127). The three figures have a multidimensional quality: the blending of color delicately painted on their skin translates a painting with lifelike, human form. Reflecting Tang’s inference, the transition in perspective, a observed in the use of color and shading to create dimension, can be viewed as the product of newly influential techniques impacting the pre-existing forms of early Chinese painting, as well as from “Indian prototypes” (127).
While we may never know for certain the purpose of Kizil cave 224 in which the Three Buddhist Heads was born in, further investigation of the Kucha Kingdom’s independent influence from Chinese practices, reflected both in the murals aesthetic techniques, in conjunction with contextual historical analysis may shed light. In her writing “Miracles and Visions Among the Monastic Communities of Kucha, Xinjiang,” Angela Howard investigates the Kizil caves relationship with the monks as miniature monasteries within the Kingdom of Kucha.
Providing some interesting context for our scholarly analysis of the Three Buddhist Heads, Howard draws a parallel between her research on practices in the Kizil caves and the gorgeous colours and peaceful scene evoked in Three Buddhist Heads. Captured succinctly in her words on page five of her article, “Through meditation, monks magically transported themselves to the pleasant surroundings recorded in these murals and denied to them by the inhuman reality of the surrounding desert. If this inference is correct, then these peculiar interpretations of nature, rather than enhancing meditation, would be a record of meditation trances. This possibility runs counter to the generally held opinion that cave paintings were acting as meditation aids.”: By drawing a parallel between Howards idea that the Kizil cave paintings served as a sort of record, rather than purpose of an aid, the use of color and multicultural influences in the Three Buddhist Heads serves as a reflection of a time in history where new ideas revolutionized old forms.
A comparison can be drawn from a similar work known as Fragments of a Thousand Buddhas, from 618-800 in Khotan (Dandan-Uiliq). While it is a paint on gesso over straw filled clay, it is a figure drawing in which similar style from Central Asian painting prevails in the thin lines and facial shapes of the Buddhas. While their attire is less elaborate, the figures existence in relation to each other suggests a kind of similarity between Three Buddhist Heads from the Kizil Caves. While we may not be able to perceive the color that may have existed in this wall painting, we are able to imagine some color being part of the painting, in contract to Three Buddhist Heads. While interpreting the Three Buddhist Heads comes with the illusory projection of attempting to look back in history and imagine the work in its full form, all scholarly analysis points to the multicultural influences behind the newly emerging aesthetic techniques popularized along the Silk Road. Art and culture converse in complex ways; the product of this conversation may not always be completely teleological, but their influences on each other, and their union, is in itself a product of great art.
