Yulin Cave 29: Female Donors

CHINA, Gansu, Guazhou; Western Xia period

This mural is painted at the bottom right corner of the front (south) wall. The lead figure is a nun, who wears a green and red monastic robe with wide sleeves. A cartouche above the nun identifies her as An Fanyi. Six female donor figures follow behind the nun. Cartouches on the left side of the wall, next to the male donor figures, identify those figures as division officials of Guazhou and Shazhou, and these female donors are their wives, daughters, and daughters-in-law.
The women wear headdresses, earrings, embroidered shirts, long skirts bordered with wide lace ribbons, and upturned shoes. Their hair is decorated with flowers and hairpins. Flowers are held between joined palms. This mural is both relatively well preserved and unique, as it is quite unusual to find a depiction of a group of women dating to the Western Xia period.