Sky Motifs

Cave #38, 4th Century AD
Thousand-Buddha Caves
Kizil, Xinjiang

A sky scene runs along the spine of the ceiling of Cave #38. From the top of the photo down: (1) a sun disk with four flying white geese; (2) the wind god in a medallion; (3) a standing Buddha in monk's robe, right hand in "fear-not," decorated with two pairs of streamers; (4) a winged vase or headless bird with an abstract design of paired snake-like bodies, possibly Garuda (previous page) drawn by an artist who did not understand the motif; (5) another medallion, with unidentified figure; (6) another standing Buddha; and (7) a crescent moon, ringed by 16 small dots (including losses in the count) and surrounded by four flying white geese. In mountains on either side are depicted ascetics with antelopes and other creatures from the natural world.