On the subtlety of porcelain art, we cannot ignore the outstanding creations of Chinese craftsmen in the field of sculpture art. Throughout history, especially in the late Northern Wei Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty, the craftsmen's unique insights into the decoration of Buddha statues are breathtaking. The highly ornamental hanging seats, and the undulating hem of the Tang Dynasty Buddha statues, demonstrate the excellence of Chinese statue art. However, in the Liao Dynasty three-color Arhat statues, we see a more striking breakthrough, which is no longer confined to Indian traditions.
These arhats, known as the Eight Buddhas, have transcended the Indian tradition of mathura close-fitting wet clothes and Gandhara stylized pleats, exhibiting an almost perfect expression of unparalleled fabric texture and body structure. The Liao Dynasty three-color Arhat statue is lifelike, as if it is life-size, and the calm face and the hands that are sealed with meditation reveal inner peace and Zen.
The texture of the robes on these arhats is natural and elegant, and the skin exposed on the hands and feet seems to feel elastic, which makes people fall for it. The three-color Arhat statue of the Liao Dynasty in the Eight Buddha Valleys is not only a treasure of ancient Chinese art, but also a vivid and lifelike portrayal of the eminent monks.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Mr. Liang Sicheng saw for the first time a three-colored Arhat statue from the Eight Buddha Valleys in Yixian County at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology of the University of Pennsylvania. In "The History of Chinese Sculpture", he spoke highly of these sculptures: "Their appearance is like the real face, and their folds are also very realistic. or graceful appearance, or frowning as earnest, all of them have their own personalities, not in vain for empty and ethereal statues. It can be compared with Roman statues. All of them are portraits caused by careful observation of the usual expressions. Not only the appearance, that is, the structure of the body, the drape of the clothes, is mainly realistic;No less than the finest works of the Italian Renaissance. ”
It is a pity that these sculptures, which represent the highest achievements of realism since the Tang Dynasty, have been scattered in foreign lands and have long been wiped out in China.