Fresco Fragment C411 and C413A 1. Basic information from Penn Museum Object Number: C411, C413A Current Location: Collections storage Culture: Chinese Buddhist (C413A), Chinese (C411) Provenience: Turfan Qyzil (uncertain) (C411), Turfan Turkestan (C413A) Period: Tang Dynasty Date Made: c. 750 Ad Early Date: 725 (C411), 749 (C413A) Late Date: 775 (C411), 751 (C413A) Materials: Ceramic/Clay/Gesso (C411), Clay/Gesso (C413A) Iconography: Human Faces (C411), Bodhisattva head (C413A) Size: 46cm*85cm (C411), 24.13cm*22.86cm (C413A) Credit Line: Purchased from A. W. Bahr 2. Basic description and analysis The fresco fragment of C411, which is combined with 3 figures, is glued together by 4 pieces. The color of the glued line inside the fragment is different with the color of the foundation. The reason that the fragment is broken into 4 pieces might be the primitive skill of cutting the painting from the wall. The damaged condition on the surface of the object shows the foundation of the painting, which is a wall of mud with a course bind of fibers covered with a thin layer of finer plaster. According to the description from Penn Museum, the tempera pigments are derived from minerals and plants. Meanwhile, The color of the fragment is still bright. The color of the skin of the central figure is lighter than the other two. However, the three figures share similar ornaments, which are coronets, white earrings and necklaces. The clothes style of the figures is the deva style, and the halo with several concentric circles in green, brown and gray indicate the figure’s nature as a celestial being. In the back side of this object, there are some notes in German, some of which can be identified as “cave (Höhle)” and “gorge (schlucht)”. The figure on the object C413A is identified as the “head of bodhisattva” by Penn Museum, who turns towards viewer's left. However, the identification is still uncertain. The foundation of the piece is similar as the object C411. Meanwhile, the color of this object is darker than the object C411. The halo is combines with two concentric circle in dark brown and green. The clothes style of the figure is also similar as the figures in C413A. The figure wears ornaments such as black earing and moon-shaped headwear, and the hand gesture might be the Karana mudrā, which is also know as Tarjanī mudra for expelling demons and removing obstacles such as sickness. On the back side of the fragment, the note, “The largest section, the second gorge, the second cave, found in the corner (gr. Anlag[e], II Schlucht, II Höhle in d. Ecke gefunden)”, is recorded.1 According to Penn Museum Archive, the two objects were purchased from A. W. Bahr at the year of 1924 with two other fresco fragments, C412 and C413B. On Dec 7, 1923, A. W. Bahr sent a letter to George Byron Gordon, the curator of Penn Museum at that time, mentioned that “Having received some rare frescoes of the Grunwedel and Von La Coq excavation of Turfan, including a head, as well as a group of Early Chinese bronze animals, I hope you will give me the honor of a call should you be in New York City soon.” George Gordon accepted the invitation from Bahr. He went to New York soon and selected four pieces. In another mail from Bahr on Jan 17, 1924, he mentioned that “With reference to the four Turfan Frescoes which you have selected, that is the large one with three heads, two smaller with single heads and one very similar in size, deep brown and green colors, I have divided them and being anxious to meet you in every way, make the price $6000. For the four.” “The large one with three heads” should be the object C411, and “one very similar in size, deep brown and green colors” should be the object C413A. Soon, Penn Museum paid and got the four objects. 1 The inscription and translation of the note is from Miki Morita’s unpublished article, “Identification of the origins of Kizil paintings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art”. As Bahr mentioned, these frescoes are from Grünwedel and Von La Coq’s excavation of Turfan, which is the main reason that the provenience of four object are marked as Turfan by Penn Museum. Grünwedel and Von La Coq, whose full names are Albert Grünwedel (1856-1935) and Albert von Le Coq (1860-1930), are German explorers and scholars. Grünwedel was the leader of the first (Dec. 1902- April 1903) and third (Dec, 1905 – April 1906) German Turfan expedition, and Von La Coq has led the third (Dec. 1905-April 1907 - until June 1906 united with 2nd expedition) and forth one (Jun, 1913 – Feb, 1914). Besides recording and researching on those sites in Xinjiang, the expedition participants also usurped many text in Sakan, Sanskrit and other language, and appropriated many paintings and statues from Xinjiang to Germany. Although the investigations and excavations of all the four German expeditions were carried out in neighboring areas, such as Kashgar, Tumshuk, Kizil, Kumtura, Turfan still was to lend its name to all four expeditions and collections comprising their discoveries, which might be the reason that Bahr claimed that the four pieces were from “the Grunwedel and Von La Coq excavation of Turfan” in his letter. However, the object C411 and C413A, which are recorded as from Turfan, might be not from Turfan, but Kizil caves. Kizil (also romanized Qizil, Qyzyl, in Chinese 克孜 尔,kezi’er) caves are located in the west of Kucha in the Xinjiang. There are 236 caves carved in sandstone cliffs along the Muzart River. The size of the preserved mural painting in Kizil caves is more than 10 thousand square meters. The date of Kizil caves is from around 3nd Century to 9 th Century. Kizil caves are mainly evolved in the third and fourth German expeditions, which were separately led by Grünwedel and Von La Coq. They cut the mural paintings from the wall of the caves, and moved these paintings back to Germany. Now the Kizil mural paintings are mainly in the Turfan collection of the Museum of Asian Art in Germany. However, a small part of the fragmentary wall paintings was sold to raise funds for the publication of the catalogues of the Central Asian collection around the 1920s. The Kizil mural paintings in the museums and private collections now in the United States, France and England are mostly from this sale, including the Smithsonian Institution and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The four pieces in Penn Museum should be also from the same sale. As the picture showed above, the fragment C411 can be fit in the mural painting in the hemicycle in the inner side of the front wall at Cave 38 in Kizil caves. Cave 38 is usually dated as the period from the middle of 5 th century to the middle of 6 th century. 2 The motif of this painting is Bodhisattva Maitreya preaching to his followers in Tusita Paradise. Maitreya is usually regarded by Buddhists as a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. However, before he descending to the human realm to become Buddha, Maitreya is still a bodhisattva and resides in Tushita Paradise. Tuṣita is one of the six deva-worlds of the Kāmadhātu, located between the Yāma heaven and the Nirmāṇarati heaven. In the painting in C38, Maitreya is also depicted as a Bodhisattva. Therefore, the clothes style of Maitreya is same as the three figures in C411, the deva clothes style. The followers around Maitreya are devas in Buddhism, who are one of many different types of non-human beings living in Tusita and sharing the characteristics of living more contentedly than the average human being. Similar motif can be found in many other wall paintings in Kizil caves. Cave 17 Cave 224 Although the specific cave or location for the object C413A cannot be confirmed, it is still reasonable to assume that this fresco fragment is from Kizil caves based on the comparison between C413A and other similar paintings in Kizil. 2 Liao Yang, Studies on the Chronology of the Kizil Wall Paintings , Beijing: Social science academic press, 2012, p. 275. C413A Cave 189 in Kizil Cave 176 in Kizil As the paintings showed in the table, the figures in C413A and Cave 189 in Kizil have similar moon-shaped headwear, black earing and similar color in the two concentric circles in the halo. Meanwhile, the figures in C413A and Cave 176 in Kizil share the same hairstyle, ornament in front of the chest and moon-shaped headwear. Judging from the painting in Cave 176 in Kizil, there should be a small circular hair ornament in the figure of C413A too. Basing on these similar characteristics, the object C413A should be also from Kizil Cave. However, because of the comparatively small size of the fragment, more information is needed to confirm the specific cave or location of the mural painting. According to Penn Museum, the fragment of C413A possibly repainted, and “Previous retouching and attempts at conservation have distorted the quality of line and color”. However, the observation might be not accurate. Based on the scratches on the surface of the pigments on the two pieces, which were probably made by the local Muslims, the pigments of two fresco fragments should be original. From the comparing of the color of the fragment C411 and the painting in Cave 38 in Kizil, it is reasonable to speculate that the color of the two pieces, C411 and C413A, should be close to the original color.