Mogao Cave 17: Bodhisattva as a Guide

CHINA, Gansu, Dunhuang; Tang dynasty

This painting is the best preserved portrayal of the Bodhisattva as a Guide found in Dunhuang. The Bodhisattva wears a headdress adorned with jewels, flowers, and a long white ribbon. Finely detailed hair hangs down behind the shoulders. There is a thin mustache and beard on the round face. The flame patterns around the nimbus rise into a single peak at the top. The Bodhisattva wears an orange dhoti and holds a long-stemmed lotus in the left hand. A white banner painted with four frames of flowers hangs from the lotus stem. The right hand holds an incense burner. Standing on lotus pedestals upon clouds, the Bodhisattva turns and looks back at a deceased woman who is dressed nobly in the style of the High Tang period (712–756) and wears a comb and an ornament in her hair. The Bodhisattva leads the way to the Pure Land, represented by the heavenly palace in the upper left corner.