국립중앙박물관 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF KOREA

Decorative Curtains from Pranidhi Scene

This fragment showing a pair of curtains is believed to come from the upper part of a Pranidhi scene painted in the Bezeklik Caves in northwest China. “Pranidhi” is a Sanskrit word referring to a special vow that a person makes to follow the teachings and the way of the Buddha, and Pranidhi scenes depict episodes from the previous lives and different incarnations of Shakyamuni Buddha. Many of the paintings on the Bezeklik Caves are bordered by curtains that were painted on the area where the ceiling meets the wall of a corridor. Here, the upper part of the curtains consists of white fabric with vertical creases, while the main body is rendered as red fabric with a fishnet design, adorned with leaf-shaped ornaments and hanging white, red, green, and blue beads. Between the curtains, white fabric has been knotted into a ribbon. The fishnet design on the red curtain is found in Cave 15.

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