Flying Apsaras Holding a Bowl

Inspired by Indian religious practices — and by tales of the Buddha imprinting his shadow on a cave wall — Chinese adherents of Buddhism created elaborate cave temples at sites in north China from the fifth to twelfth centuries. Hewn into limestone or sandstone cliffs, they ranged in size from small grottoes of only a few square feet (which were typically used as private meditation spaces by monks) to massive temples featuring monumental sculptures. Interiors were embellished with murals and sculptures carved from the rock walls. In sponsoring such sites, social elites, including emperors and their families, displayed their piety, as well as their political ambition and power. The large Seated Buddha and five sculptural reliefs here come from Tianlongshan, near the city of Taiyuan in Shanxi Province. From the sixth through eighth centuries, approximately twenty-five caves were carved into the cliffs there. The caves had relief sculptures on each wall — often a buddha in a niche flanked by bodhisattvas and other devotional figures. Apsarases, angel-like beings that appear in celebration of auspicious events, decorated the ceilings. To increase their sense of lifelike presence and visibility in the dim cave light, they were brightly painted, as evidenced by the traces of pigment found on the Seated Buddha and others of these figures.