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Suryaprabha, Bodhisattva of the Sun (detail)
日曜菩薩像幡（局部）
Tang dynasty, 8th century A.D.
White outline and colours on silk
Total length 213.0 cm
Painted area: H.89.6 cm, W.25.5 cm
British Museum, Stein painting 121. Ch. 00303
See also Fig.44.
This banner is preserved complete, intact save for some damage to the foot and to the headpiece, both showing signs of ancient repairs before it was put away in the sealed library. Since the closely woven dark blue silk is not at all transparent, the Bodhisattva is represented on the front and the back of the banner in similar but not identical postures. Holding the sun, a disc with a cock depicted in red, in both hands, the Bodhisattva is identified by a cartouche (Pl. 30-2) as 日矅菩薩, Bodhisattva of the Sun, presumably, as suggested by Waley, the same as the Bodhisattva of Sunlight 日光菩薩, one of the two chief attendants on Bhaisajyaguru.
The figure is confidently drawn in smooth flowing lines of white (for silver), with yellow (for gold) used for the ornaments and patterns on the dress, and red used for the lips as well as for the cock on both sides. The facial features are small in comparison with the full heavy curves of the cheeks but carefully organized. The result gives considerable freedom, for instance in the forms taken by the ends of the scarves, while the painter’s confidence is demonstrated in the different positions of the feet, one foreshortened, the other in profile, both solidly planted on the lotus pedestal rising as a complete flower from the foreground pool (Pl. 30-1).
A border of lozenges, each with a flower and petalled edges, separates the Bodhisattva from the lower part of the banner, an undivided piece of silk of the same weave and colour but with a repeating pattern of confronting ducks within a flower-and –leaf motif (Pl. 30-3). This too appears to have been drawn freehand rather than stencilled (as suggested by Waley) since there is a considerable amount of variation between front and back, and indeed between repeats on the same side. The weighting board is painted in green and black on a red ground.
The pattern of confronting ducks is similar to that of a kyokechi-printed textile of the eighth century in the Shoso-in (Matsumoto, 1974, Pl.19), as already noticed by Waley. But the technique alone, apart from this coincidence of motif, recalls other painted works in the Shoso-in, where gold or silver has been used on a darker ground. Although this banner is not alone among those from Dunhuang to adopt this technique (an even larger banner in silver on red damask, featuring a single huge figure over its full length of 386 cm, is shown in Vol. 3), it is possible that its distinctive features indicate that it was made elsewhere. In any case, the international character of Tang style in the eighth century is readily apparent from such comparisons with material far away in Japan.
唐代,8世紀
絹本藍底線描（白、黃、赤）
幡全長：213.0釐米
圖案部分：高89.6釐米 寬25.5釐米
英国博物館,斯坦因繪畫121.Ch.00303
參照Fig.44.
本幡保存狀態極好，下端和幡頭還保持著進入藏經洞之前修補的痕跡，其他部分基本完好。使用了深藍色密織的絹，所以無法透過背面看見表面的像，而正反兩面的畫像姿勢與表面的像略有不同。菩薩兩手捧著在圓圈中畫有紅色鳥的日輪，長方形題箋中記有“日曜菩薩”（參照圖30－2），但如Waley所述，可能和藥師如來的兩脅侍之一日光菩薩相同。
兩面的像都用流暢的白（代替銀）線描繪，衣物的花樣和裝飾品用黃色（代替金），鳥和菩薩的唇用了紅色。眼睛和鼻子比起膨大的臉部，顯得有些小，但描繪得很認真。並且如所見的天衣末端等處，畫面的表現有相當的自由，腳的一隻朝前，另一隻卻是橫向，可感覺到畫家的自信。雙腳穩穩地踏在從前面池中升起的蓮花表示的蓮華座上。
菩薩像本身和幡的下部之間，用相連的菱形花紋帶區分。構成幡下部的絹織物、顔色和幡本身相同，但沒有通常幡腳那樣的切縫，而是重復描繪有兩隻相對的鴨子環繞在花和葉子中的菱形花紋（參照圖30－3）。這裏大概沒有使用像Waley所說的紙樣，而是手描。因爲表和裏的表現很不同，同一面上也有細微的差別。鎮板紅色底子上，畫了綠和黑色的花紋。
這種兩隻鴨子相對的構思，Waley曾指出，正倉院收藏的8世紀的夾纈染作品中也見到類似的作品（參照『日本の美術』No.102,松本包夫編『正倉院の染織』圖版19）。另外，除去構思方面的相似之處，從技法的方面講，正倉院裏還有幾件在深底色上用金和銀描繪圖案的作品。敦煌畫中，使用這種技法的作品不僅此一件（第3卷收錄了一件幡，在紅色綾織布上用銀畫著巨大的像，全長達386釐米），但是從像的獨特之處看，這一作品可能是在其他地方製作的。不管怎樣，8世紀的唐樣式，是具有國際性的品格。上述遠方日本留存的可作比較的資料，也是證明。