PLATE XL
KṢITIGARBHA AS PATRON OF TRAVELLERS
The painting (Ch. 0084) reproduced here on half the scale of the original also represents Kṣitigarbha, like the one in the preceding Plate, but shows striking differences of style in composition, drawing, and colouring. Simplicity of design, delicacy of line, and harmonious quiet of colours all combine to give to this picture a singular charm of its own, admirably expressive of serene beatitude. It is painted on pale green silk and, except where it is broken at the bottom, well preserved along with its border of greenish-blue silk.
We see the Bodhisattva seated cross-legged on an open lotus with gracefully pointed red petals. His face, round and youthful, bears an expression of benignant mildness. The eyes, long and straight, are cast slightly downwards. The right hand holds the mendicant’s staff and the left, resting on the knee, a flaming ball of crystal. He is dressed in a yellowish under-robe, apparently lined with pink, and a light green mantle which is barred and bordered with black. Head and shoulders are draped in a shawl of Indian red ornamented with a faint spot pattern in yellow.
The nimbus and circular halo are ornamented with elaborate ray and floral patterns in red and green and edged with flames. A broad band of white surrounds the whole figure and lifts it out of the green background. In the corners of this are seen floating sprays with red flowers.
Below in the left corner there remains the upper portion of the kneeling donor, recognizable as a boy by his features and the way in which his hair is dressed. In his joined hands he holds a lotus flower. His loose-sleeved red coat is sprinkled with a circular flower pattern in yellow and black. Red flowers on tall stems rise on either side of him. The cartouche to the right is left blank, and so, too, the remainder of the space probably intended for a dedicatory inscription.