What are the characteristics of the painted sculptures and murals in Mogao Grottoes?

According to the theme, artistic style and expression of murals in the grottoes, the Mogao Grottoes can be roughly divided into three periods:

1, the early stage is the growth period of Dunhuang grottoes art, and the murals include Buddha paintings, Buddhist story paintings, China traditional fairy tales, decorative patterns, portraits of patrons, etc., among which Buddhist story paintings are the main ones;

2. Murals in the middle period are the heyday of grotto art, including Tang Dynasty and Shang Dynasty. Reduced the mural content and story painting method, and described it according to the local conditions and customs at that time;

3. There are portraits of patrons of the Five Dynasties, the Song Dynasty, the Xixia Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty in the late murals, and the leaders of all ethnic groups and their genera are gathered in a cave. It has added a lot of brilliance to the mural art of Mogao Grottoes.

Dunhuang colored plastic art

1. Early cave forms: Zen Cave, Square or Rectangular Buddhist Temple, Tower Temple with Central Pillar, etc. There are more than 300 early color sculptures. The genre includes relief, high relief and round carving;

2. Mid-term: the cave is a square Buddhist temple, and the group images centered on the Buddha are generally arranged in the big niche in front;

3. Late figure modeling: generally, big head, strong body and short legs are the obvious characteristics of Sui Dynasty statues.