Mogao Cave 61: Female Donors

CHINA, Gansu, Dunhuang; Five Dynasties

There are several portraits of female donors in the lower register of the front (east) wall of Cave 61. The figures on the left side were painted during the Five Dynasties (907–960), while the others were repainted during the Song dynasty (960–1127). Inscriptions identify the donors as members of the Cao family.
Among the eight donors on the right side of the wall, the first two on the left wear traditional Uighur dresses with turned-down collars and sleeves gathered at the wrist. They are Cao Yijin’s wife, who was an Uighur princess, and their daughter. Plum blossom blush is applied to their cheeks. One holds an incense burner and the other carries a flower on a plate. The third figure, another daughter of Cao Yijin, married King Li Shengtian and became the Queen of Khotan. She wears a beautiful phoenix headdress and an ornate robe. Five more members of the Cao family follow behind her. The inscriptions beside these figures provides information on how political power between ruling Uighur families in Ganzhou (present day Zhangye) and Khotan was maintained through marriage.