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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[DECEMBER, 1911.
from the seventh to the ninth century of the Christian era. One of the paintings on silk (No. 32) bears a Chinese inscription dated A. D. 892. Some of the Chinese manuscripts are still more ancient.
It is obvious that even a preliminary examination of such a vast mass of confused and partially damaged material must take a long time, while the thorough study of the manuscripts will provide work for generations of scholars. The paintings on silk alone number about three hundred, and the greatest care and skill are required for opening them out and preparing them for critical examination. Description and criticisin of the paintings must be tentative and incomplete until the whole collection bas been examined in the light of the accompanying documents. The 68 items shown at the Festival of Empire have been described summarily by Dr. Stein in the Guide and Catalogue. We propose to bring his principal observations to the notice of our readers.
Nearly all the paintings are executed on a fine gauze-like transparent silk, but a few are on paper.
Most of them fall readily into two classes, namely, (1) oblong banners provided with triangular bead-piece and streamers on each side, with wood or bamboo strainers attached ; and (2) larger paintings intended to be hung on temple walls or gateways.
The subjects of the wall-pictures are the familiar scenes of Buddhist legend-the dream of Maya, the departure from Kapilavasta, incidents in heaven, and so forth. The banners, pinted on both sides, are chiefly occupied by effigies of Bodhisattvas, Lókapalas, and Dharmapalas, generally Chinese in style, but based on Indian tradition. A few are distinctly Indian in style.
The paintings comprise specimeus of considerable beauty and aesthetic merit, and like the objects brought home by Dr. Stein from his first expedition, show the influence of Chinese, Persian, Indian, Tibetan, and Greek art. They enable us to form some notion of what the lost mediaval paintings of India must have been like, and so help to fill up the wide gap between the latest paintings at Ajanta dating from the seventh century and the Indo-Persian painting introduced by Akbar about A. D. 1570.
The cases at the Festival of Empire included remarkable examples of ancient embroidery belonging to the same period as the pictures on silk and paper. Dr. Stein points out that “the multi-coloured patterns woven into them present the most striking resemblance to patterned silk fabrics found in Egyptian tombs of the early Christian and Byzantine period, and showing a type of decoration usually known as 'Sassanian,' and supposed to originate in Mesopotamia or Western Persia." In support of this general statement the description of No. 54 may be quoted :
54-Manuscript wrasser-roughly made of silk fragments stiffened with paper, lined with silk, and with coarse sollen tapes for tying. Outer edges and triangular flap made of fragments of rich silk brocade of Sassanian design. On pink ground large elliptical cartouches, bordered with double rows of overlapping petals, contain two winged balls with abundant manes, facing each other on salmon-coloured field. Elliptical lotases fill spaces between large cartouches. Two roughly cut strips of extremely fine silk tapestry are attached to centre panel. Style of weaving is identical with that of the Copts of the third century A. D., and of the ancient Peruvians, and closely resembles that of the Gobelin factory,"
