Dandan Oilik Monastery: Two Riders

CHINA, Xinjiang, Hotan

This votive board was discovered in Dandan Oilik Monastery, a heritage site in Xinjiang. There are the remains of five wooden pegs on the back of the board, presumably used for securing it onto a wall. Two riders with nimbuses are painted on the front. The rider painted on the upper portion rides a piebald horse and holds a wine bowl, at which a black bird is diving into. The figure in the lower portion rides a camel and also holds a wine bowl.
There are many similarities between this artwork and a wooden panel, also kept in the British Museum. The panel is painted with images of a rider and two black birds approaching Vaisravana, Heavenly King of the North, who was considered to be the guardian of Khotan. Thus, the bird in this painting is thought to refer to a regional legend in which Pekar, a Uighur guardian deity, assumed the form of a bird and was shot by an attendant of Vaisravana.