Sakyamuni Preaching on the Vulture Peak (China)

Sakyamuni preaching on the Vulture Peak. Embroidery, Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China, 8th century. Sakyamuni preaching on the Vulture Peak. Embroidery, Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China, 8th century. © Trustees of the British Museum, acc. no. MAS,0.1129.

The collection of the British Museum, London, includes an embroidery from Dunhuang, Gansu province, China, that depicts 'Sakyamuni preaching on the Vulture Peak' and dates to about the eighth century AD. The panel measures 241 x 159 cm. It is worked in split stitch being passed through the plain silk weave and the hemp backing. 

The panel shows a standing Buddha beneath a blue parasol, flanked on both sides by a disciple and a boddhisattva. Donors are depicted below. The Buddha is standing on a lotus pedestal. The body is enveloped in an almond-shaped aureole (mandorla), which at the head touches upon a nimbus.

The main outlines and contours of the figures were first drawn in ink on the silk ground material. Then the lines were delineated in blue and in some parts brown silk, using split stitch. Afterwards the main parts of the designs were filled in with floss silks of various colours, using satin stitch

British Museum online catalogue (retrieved 21 August 2016).

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Last modified on Friday, 09 December 2016 18:29