The characteristics of Buddhist statue art in the style of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties: three distinctive characteristics: thin bones, clear images, sweet smiles, and wide belts. But these are the basic characteristics of the Wei and Jin style, not all. The statue s

Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties style : . Three distinctive features: thin bones, clear images, sweet smiles, and praising clothes and broad belts. But these are the basic characteristics of the Wei and Jin style, not all. The statue styles of Hebei Yecheng and Shandong Qingzhou during the Northern Qi period were unique during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.

The Northern Qi Dynasty only lasted for only 27 years in history. Qingzhou Longxing Temple Ruins Cellar Buddhist statues are the most exciting treasure of Northern Qi statue art. Now let’s experience the classic work with great artistic charm - the Buddhist statues of Longxing Temple in Qingzhou.

Figure 1 Qingzhou Longxing Temple

Four avatars comparison

Figure 2 Qingzhou statues change face changes

Figure 1 Four statues, the first two are Indian Buddhist statues, and the last two are Buddhas and Bodhisattva statues in Qingzhou. The four images are a classic work of Buddhist statues from different periods and countries. The realistic style of the Indian Gandhara period, the localized characteristics of the Gupta period, and the distinctive characteristics of the Qingzhou Buddhist statues in China, are both integrated and prominent.

The statues of the Indian Gupta period, the Buddha's hair was spiraled, but in the Wei and Jin styles we have talked about, we have never seen Buddha's hair be spiraled. Most of the iconic hairs that come to Qingzhou Buddha are spiral buns, which is clearly influenced by the Indian Gupta style.

Let’s look at the Qingzhou statue again. It does not have the feeling of thin face in the early Wei and Jin styles. It has a square and full face, a willow leaf eye shape, a low eye view, a graceful lip line, and a slightly calm smile on the mouth, showing the Buddha’s sense of compassion and wisdom.

Comparison of the pattern of the robe and the Motu

Figure 3 Changes of the pattern of the robe in Qingzhou statues

After analyzing the statue of the Buddha's head, let's take a look at the Buddha body statue in Qingzhou and compare it with the statue of Gupta in India.

The characteristics of the Buddha statues in the Gupta Motululu period (middle) are uniform, delicate, and ordered lines of clothing, such as Caoyi . The clothes pattern of Qingzhou Buddha statues on both sides are depicted with clear and delicate lines on the left and the changes are orderly, making people feel tightly wrapped in light clothes, showing the dynamic beauty of the Buddha statues. The right side is thinner. The whole clothes are made of thread engraving and painted to show that the clothes are thinner and more attached, making the image look lighter and beautiful. The two expressions of

bring the clothing pattern expression of Indian Motuluo statue art to the extreme, making people feel more reasonable and full of charm.

Comparison of Qingzhou and Sarnath clothing patterns

Figure 4 Changes in Qingzhou statues

Among the three statues, the clothing patterns of Qingzhou statues (2 left and right) brought the style of the statues in the Sarnath region to the extreme. There is no clothing pattern expression on the body, and it is completely painted to show the feeling of wearing clothes.

When the statue faded out of its color, it was completely unsatisfactory that the statue had clothes to wear. We can feel that although Chinese statues do not conform to the rationality of anatomy in shape, they pursue a visual beauty and focus on the expression of the artistic conception of the statue. This is the most different between Eastern classical art and Western classical art.

Classic Guanyin statue

Figure 5 Guanyin Bodhisattva statue

Figure 6 Guanyin Bodhisattva statue Qingzhou Museum

This is a museum-level Guanyin Bodhisattva statue in Qingzhou Museum. This statue has a slender and flat body (Qingzhou carved stone), but it is reasonable. She wore a cloud-covered dress, a gold-painted neck, a waist skirt, and a long necklace. The hem of the skirt is a thin belt with a narrow skirt. There is no too much decoration throughout the body, it is simple and generous.

This Guanyin avatar is round and full. The head crown worn should be a manifestation of localization at that time. The statue has a tall eyebrows, and willow leaves smile at the front, wide forehead and high nose, and slightly raised corners of the mouth to show a plain smile. This Guanyin statue is a very classic Guanyin opening face in Qingzhou, feeling the wisdom, compassion and affinity of Guanyin Bodhisattva.

Buddha Statue

Figure 7 Buddha Statue The Qingzhou Museum's collection

This standing statue draws on the style of Sarnath and does not make complex and profound carvings, but what makes this statue unique is that it carved a pattern of a cassock in a shallow thread carving method. This carved Buddha statue is called the statue of the human world.

The people in the Dharma Realm are like Lushena Buddha , and Lushena means "light shines everywhere". Based on the Dharma Realm View of the "Avatamsaka Sutra", it comes from the Avatamsaka beliefs and carves the images of the world on the surface of the Buddha statue, indicating that the entire Dharma Realm is transformed by the vows of Buddha Lushana. This reflects the world image generated by visualization and realizes the concreteization of the thoughts of the Dharma Realm.

"Photo in the human world" means "in the human body", which aims to express the concepts mentioned in the "Avatamsaka Sutra" that "the wonderful Dharma realms of inequality and equality are all filled with the body of the Tathagata" and "the Buddha's body is filled with all the Dharma realms, and all the sentient beings appear before all sentient beings". Therefore, the image of the human world must be depicted in the body of Lusha Buddha, to clarify the truth that all the images of the Dharma realms appear in the Dharma body of Lusha Buddha.

The statues of the Buddha Realm "basically appeared in the late Northern Dynasties in the 5th century, mostly in the Northern Qi and Northern Zhou dynasties. There are only a few statues of the Buddha Realm in the existence of Lushana.

The statues of the Buddha Realm in the Buddha Realm. Walking Buddha

Figure 8 The Buddha Walking Buddha The Qingzhou Museum's image of

is even more simple to the extreme. It only carves the body shape and then uses color painting to describe the feeling of wearing a robe. It perfectly combines carving and painting. The image of is slightly bent with one leg and one leg, showing a dynamic change.

Bodhisattva standing statue

Figure 9 Bodhisattva standing statue The Qingzhou Museum contains

. The overall figure of this Bodhisattva is slender and flat, without too many ornaments, slender and elegant, with a kind of feminine beauty.

Thinking Bodhisattva

Figure 10 Thinking Bodhisattva The Qingzhou Museum's collection

Figure 10 is a museum-level statue in the Qingzhou Museum - Thinking Bodhisattva. This statue is different in its body shape. The Bodhisattva sits upside down and is thinking, with a smile on his eyes. Although his arms are damaged, it does not lose the vivid carving of the body.

This statue is so intact in the color of the painting, which is very rare. The crown worn by Guanyin looks like a hat, which is a localized way of expression.

The smile of the Buddha and Bodhisattva in Qingzhou

Figure 11 Buddha statue Qingzhou Museum's collection

Figure 12 Buddha statue Qingzhou Museum

Figure 13 The smile of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in Qingzhou

The smile of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in Qingzhou is the sweetest and solemn style of the statues in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. can feel the smile without being charming. When we look at these 6 photos, each statue is smiling from different angles, which is extremely lifelike.

Here we feel the unique charm of the statues in Qingzhou. The famous Buddhist archaeological expert Su Bai believes that it was the Gupta statue directly inherited to Qingzhou, Shandong, and merged with the painting art of the time, and finally formed a very prominent figure style in Qingzhou, Northern Qi.