I am a sculptor [ MFA Yale ] and a student of Penor Rinpoche.
A sheet from the palm-leaf book “Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita” (“Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Verses”), includes a tiny painting of a female disciple playing a game with a bodhisattva, a being who embodies perfect wisdom and love. The religious books, which originated in northeastern India, are transcriptions of Buddhist scriptures, or sutras.
The period of Sixteen Kingdoms (366-439): seven caves.
The Northern Wei period (439-534) and Western Wei period (535-556): ten caves in the early phase, and ten caves in the later phase.
The Northern Zhou period (557-580): fifteen caves.
Sui Dynasty (581-618): seventy caves.
Early Tang, the first years of the Tang Dynasty (618-704): forty- four caves.
High Tang (the period which witnessed the high tide of the Tang imperial power, 705-780): eighty caves.
Middle Tang (the phase of decline of the Tang power, 781-847) also known as the Tubo (Tibetan) period because Dunhuang was under Tibetan occupation: forty-four caves.
Late Tang (the last phase of the Tang Dynasty, 848-906, during which Dunhuang returned to Chinese rule because of the military feat of a local general Zhang Yichao): sixty caves.
The Five Dynasties (907-923): thirty-two caves.
Song Dynasty (only the early part, 960-1035): forty-three caves.
Western Xia (1036-1226): eighty-two caves.
Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty (1227-1368): ten caves.
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Patchwork of silk, probably a kasaya
From Cave 17, Mogao, near Dunhuang, Gansu province, China
Tang Dynasty, 8th-9th century AD
A Buddhist monastic robe
Height: 1070.000 mm
Width: 1490.000 mm
Sir Marc Aurel Stein originally suggested that this large patchwork was an altar-cloth, though it has now been identified as a kasaya, a Buddhist monastic robe. The symmetrical arrangement of patches along a central vertical axis is consistent with the prescribed form for a kasaya. Even though these patches of cloth were originally meant as a sign of humility, a splendid array of silks has been used in this example.
The patchwork comprises seven vertical columns of fabric enclosed by a border of plain silk printed with blue foliated scrolls. Within the border are woven or printed silks with a rosette design. The dominating floral motif embroidered in the centre has largely disintegrated, revealing the silk patches used for strengthening. Only two small white panels of floral embroidery still remain intact.
The magnificence of the materials used and the presence of purple suggest that the wearer must have been a priest of high rank. Hong Bian (active in the mid-ninth century), the head priest who is commemorated in the cave where these textiles were found, had been given the right to wear purple by the emperor. Small pieces of purple silk were also found inside his statue.
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