Panel 2: Reception of Indian Influences in Tang Buddhist Art

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel Proposal Application

Abstract

The expansion of the Tang empire provided an environment favorable for international exchanges and movements—movements of people, ideas, and material objects. Fresh influences from India, especially from Gupta India, had great impact on the development of Tang Buddhist art. The papers of this panel investigate the reception of new iconographies and art styles introduced from India and their syntheses with the existing tradition of Buddhist art in China or transformations. Two papers relate to new iconographic types and practices. HIDA Romi’s paper investigates an unusual type of clay tablets from Xi’an which feature images of the Buddha in “Indian” figural style and are stamped with the pratītyasamutpāda gātha (dependent-origination formula). She investigates the connection of these clay tablets to Xuanzang and explores the meaning in dedicating them. Dorothy WONG’s paper argues that the “bejeweled Buddha in earth-touching gesture” is a hybrid iconographic type that combines the “bejeweled Buddha” image from the Hindukush and Kashmir with the Bodhgayā prototype (the Buddha in earth-touching gesture) in the specific religious and political environment during the reign of Wu Zetian. Two other papers address stylistic issues. FUJIOKA Yutaka’s paper reconstructs the style of Chang’an sculptures of the seventh century, arguing that the style was deeply influenced by Guptan art. YAGI Haruo’s paper, in contrast, proposes that the realism seen in a group of images portraying the Buddha seated with legs pendent produced toward the end of the reign of Wu Zetian indicates an independent development in the Chinese sculptural tradition rather than external influence from India.

Area of Study

• Interarea-Border Crossing-Diaspora

Session Organizers

• Dorothy C. Wong, University of Virginia

• Haruo Yagi, Tsukuba University

Chair

• Takashi Koezuka, Osaka University

Individual Presentations

• Indian Influence in the Iconography and Functions of Clay Tablets Excavated from Xi’an - Romi Hida, Waseda University

• The Origins and Propagation of Images of the Bejewelled Buddha in Earth-touching Gesture in China - Dorothy C. Wong, University of Virginia

• A Restorative Study of Chang’an Sculptures of the Early Tang Dynasty: Reception of Guptan Influence in Tang Buddhist Art - Yutaka Fujioka, Osaka University

• The Flourishing of Indian-style Images of the Buddha Seated with Legs Pendent during the Reigns of Zhongzong and Ruizong - Haruo Yagi, Tsukuba University

Discussant

• Juhyung Rhi, Seoul National University