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A Buddha from the Tang Dynasty
By Gao Ceng |
September 19, 2010, Sunday
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Print Edition
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KASYAPA was the eldest apprentice of Sakyamuni, the Buddha, and a carved wooden head of Kasyapa in the Shanghai Museum is a beautiful example of Buddhist statue art during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907).
The 100-centimeter-tall piece is valued for its historic, artistic and religious value.
Comparing with other materials such as bronze and stone, wood is more likely to rot so that surviving wooden artifacts in good condition, such as this one, are precious.
Although the exterior color has effloresced and peeled after hundreds of years and the wood grain is muted, the beauty and purity of the carving is evident.
Highly talented craftsmen used multiple skills to carve Kasyapa's face in detail: a high and rounded forehead, elegantly connected eyebrows, half-closed eyes, round nose and a smile on the lips.
The statue exemplifies Tang art. Kasyapa's plump face and elongated earlobes make him look gentle, not as serious as his representations in other dynasties, both earlier and later. He is also presented in lifelike Tang style, making him seem more like a real person.
There is meaning beneath the surface: Kasyapa seems to be both smiling and meditating and some say his eyes are filled with love and tolerance, those of a wise monk who had experienced hardship.
The masterpiece, combining art and religion, evokes the Tang Dynasty, an era of openness with a flowering of culture and religion.
The 100-centimeter-tall piece is valued for its historic, artistic and religious value.
Comparing with other materials such as bronze and stone, wood is more likely to rot so that surviving wooden artifacts in good condition, such as this one, are precious.
Although the exterior color has effloresced and peeled after hundreds of years and the wood grain is muted, the beauty and purity of the carving is evident.
Highly talented craftsmen used multiple skills to carve Kasyapa's face in detail: a high and rounded forehead, elegantly connected eyebrows, half-closed eyes, round nose and a smile on the lips.
The statue exemplifies Tang art. Kasyapa's plump face and elongated earlobes make him look gentle, not as serious as his representations in other dynasties, both earlier and later. He is also presented in lifelike Tang style, making him seem more like a real person.
There is meaning beneath the surface: Kasyapa seems to be both smiling and meditating and some say his eyes are filled with love and tolerance, those of a wise monk who had experienced hardship.
The masterpiece, combining art and religion, evokes the Tang Dynasty, an era of openness with a flowering of culture and religion.
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