The Artistic Value of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes

1, Dunhuang Grottoes Art

Three-dimensional art integrating architecture, sculpture and painting. On the basis of inheriting the excellent artistic traditions of the Han nationality in the Central Plains and the brotherly nationalities in the Western Regions, ancient artists absorbed and integrated foreign expression techniques, and developed into Buddhist artworks with Dunhuang local characteristics and China ethnic customs, which provided valuable materials for the study of ancient China's politics, economy, culture, religion, ethnic relations, friendly exchanges between China and foreign countries, and were cultural treasures and spiritual wealth of mankind.

2. Architectural art?

There are 492 paintings and colored sculptures in over 500 existing caves, including Zen caves, temple caves, pagoda caves, dome caves, "shadow caves" and some pagodas. The largest grottoes are more than 40 meters high and 30 meters wide, and the smallest grottoes are less than one foot high.

The Central Tower is a foreign grotto form preserved in the early days, which reflects that ancient artists assimilated foreign art while accepting it, making it a national form in China. Many of them are masterpieces of existing ancient buildings.

3. Color plastic art? Painted sculptures are the main body of Dunhuang art, including Buddha statues, Bodhisattva statues, disciples, heavenly kings, King Kong, Lux and immortals. Color plastic forms are rich and varied, including round plastic, floating plastic, shadow plastic and good plastic. The maximum height is 34.5 meters, and the minimum is only 2 cm (Shan Ye clay sculpture and wood carving), which is rich in themes and exquisite in craftsmanship, and can be called the Buddhist colored sculpture museum.

The portrait sculpture in Cave 17 in the Tang Dynasty is abhorrent to the unification of Hexi Capital, and the statue is painted with staff near the waiter, which integrates the statue with the mural. It is one of the earliest realistic portraits of eminent monks in China and has high historical and artistic value.

4. mural art? Murals are the most abundant and abundant grotto art in Dunhuang, which not only reflect religious themes, but also reflect some scenes of production, labor and social life at that time, providing valuable information for the study of ancient China society from the 4th century to14th century.

The murals in Mogao Grottoes also have high artistic value, with the Tang Dynasty as the highest level. Scholars call Dunhuang murals "the library on the wall".

The grotto murals are rich and colorful, and all kinds of Buddhist stories, landscapes, pavilions and other architectural paintings, landscape paintings, flower patterns, flying Buddha statues and various scenes made by working people at that time are artistic representations of folk customs and historical changes from the Sixteen Kingdoms to the Qing Dynasty 1500 years.

In a large number of mural art, it can also be found that ancient artists absorbed the advantages of ancient art in Iran, India, Greece and other countries on the basis of nationalization, which is a symbol of the developed civilization of the Chinese nation.

Murals in different dynasties showed different painting styles, which reflected the political, economic and cultural conditions of China's feudal society. They were a glorious chapter in the ancient art history of China and provided precious graphic historical materials for studying the ancient history of China.

5. Dunhuang art? In the 26th year of Guangxu (A.D. 1900), about 50,000 scriptures, documents, embroideries, portraits, etc. from Wei-Jin to Northern Song Dynasty were found in the northern wall of Cave 16.

In addition to written documents in Chinese, written documents in Park Jung Su, Baltic, Huigu, Tubo, Sanskrit, Tibetan and other national languages account for about one-sixth. The contents of documents include religious documents, literary works, contracts, account books, official documents and letters.

Extended data:

Construction of Mogao Grottoes

The Mogao Grottoes were built during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. According to the book "Li Kerang Rebuilds the Monument of Mogao Grottoes" in Tang Dynasty, in 366 AD, two years before the founding of the Qin Dynasty, some monks were happy to pass by this mountain and suddenly saw the golden light shining like Buddha, so they dug the first cave on the rock wall. Since then, Zen master Fa Liang and others have continued to build caves here to practice, which are called "desert grottoes", meaning "high places in the desert".

Later generations renamed it "Mogao Grottoes" because of the common "desert" and "Mo". There is another saying: Buddhists say that it is impossible and impossible to build a Buddha cave because of its infinite merits. Mogao Grottoes means that there is no higher cultivation than building Buddha Grottoes.

During the Northern Wei, Western Wei and Northern Zhou Dynasties, the rulers believed in Buddhism, and the construction of grottoes was supported by princes and nobles, which developed rapidly.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, with the prosperity of the Silk Road, the Mogao Grottoes flourished, and there were more than a thousand caves in Wu Zetian. After the Anshi Rebellion, Dunhuang was occupied by Tubo and Guiyi Army successively, but the carving activities were not greatly affected. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Xixia and Yuan Dynasty, the Mogao Grottoes gradually declined, and only the caves of the previous dynasties were rebuilt, with few new buildings.

After the Yuan Dynasty, Dunhuang stopped opening caves and gradually became barren. In the seventh year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty (1528), Cargill was closed.

The valley pass made Dunhuang a nomadic place in the frontier fortress. In the fifty-seventh year of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty (17 18), Xinjiang was settled, and in the first year of Yongzheng (1723), Shazhou Station was set up in Dunhuang, and in the third year (1725), it was changed to Shazhou Wei, and immigrants from Gansu provinces settled in Dunhuang and rebuilt Shazhou City. In the twenty-five years of Qianlong (1760), Shazhouwei was changed to Dunhuang County, and Dunhuang economy began to recover. The Mogao grottoes began to be noticed by people.

People's Network-World Cultural Heritage: Mogao Grottoes

Baidu Encyclopedia-Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes