Caravan Routes East of Chang’an:Iranian Elements in the Buddhist Art of Shandong Province

Li Sifei 李思飞

Shandong Province 山東 is extremely rich inBuddhist monuments and it is still a very popu-

lar destination for pilgrims who continue to visitthe region from many parts of China and evenKorea and Japan. One of the most well-known sitesin Shandong is Qingzhou 青州, owing to the largenumber of Buddhist statues that have been foundthere in recent times.

Scholars have been drawn to the statues inQingzhou for their unique decoration. Some stat-ues even contain painted scenes on the chest of abuddha or bodhisattvas. Among the most interest-ing painted decorations on these statues are thosethat depict groups of people from Central Asia. Inthese depictions, Chinese artists paid special at-tention to the portrayal of exotic peculiarities, suchas caftans and boots, but also prominent noses,curly hair, and beards [Fig. 1]. These characteris-tics are usually understood by scholars as a refer-ence to people from far western lands, in particularthe Sogdians, who were especially active in China

during the sixth and seventh centuries C.E.(Qingzhou shi bowuguan 1999: fig. 131).

In this article I would like to highlight those Shan-dong monuments that have received less scholarlyattention. These monuments also include repre-sentations of exotic goods or foreigners who trav-elled along the so-called “Silk Roads” betweenCentral Asia and China in pre-Islamic times. Itseems highly probable that claims of Persian iden-tity or Persian artwork, which appeared so promi-nently in Chinese art and texts during theNorthern Zhou, Sui, and Tang dynasties, were ac-tually mediated by Central Asian Sogdians. Duringthese periods, very few Persians arrived in China.By contrast, Sogdians had started to immigrateand settle in Chinese lands at least since the fourthcentury. In all probability, Sogdian tradesmen, in-tent on securing a higher price for their servicesand wares, managed to present themselves andtheir products as Persian to Chinese elites whowere unable to tell the difference.

The “Persian Man” of the Tuoshan Caves

Lesser known Buddhist monuments of theQingzhou region include the Tuoshan 驼山 Caves,which date to the late Northern Zhou and early Suiperiod. Among the five grottoes of the Tuoshancomplex, the one usually referred to as No. 2 [Fig.2] presents the image of a person wearing non-Chinese garments. This image has traditionallybeen referred to by the locals as the “Persian man”(Bosiren 波斯人) (Yan 1957: 33; Li 1998). Images ofculturally and ethnically alien peoples appear oftenin Buddhist art, including the Buddhist art ofChina during this era. However, in light of the factthat Buddhism is rarely attested to in Persia, thisstatue of a Persian man in the Tuoshan grottoes isworthy of note.

Between 224-651 C.E., Persia was dominated by theSasanian Dynasty, and the main religion wasZoroastrianism (also known as “Mazdeism,” afterits chief deity Ahura Mazda). Other religions, such

44The Silk Road 16 (2018): 44–52 Copyright © 2018 Sifei LiCopyright © 2018 The Silkroad Foundation

Fig. 1. Foreigners depicted on the garment of a Buddha statuefound in Qingzhou. All sketches by the author.

as Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism,along with other Zoroastrian “sects,” were prac-ticed by various groups of followers within themultiethnic Persian Empire and were generally notpersecuted. In the Margiana and Bactria-Tokharis-tan regions of the easternmost fringes of theSasanian Empire, however, Buddhism had manymore followers than in the Sasanian core. Not onlythat, but the Sasanians had been exchanging em-bassies with different Chinese courts since at least455 C.E. (Ecsedy 1979: 155).

Peroz III, the son of Yazdigard III (632-651), thelast Sasanian sovereign, lived in exile at Chang’anafter being welcomed by Tang Gaozong (650-683).Chinese chronicles reported Peroz’s nameas Beilusi 卑路斯 and in other related forms, all ofwhich correspond quite precisely to “Peroz.” Perozwas able to obtain a prominent position at the Chi-nese court. His now headless statue, accompaniedby an inscription on the back recording his title,can still be seen at the mausoleum of EmperorGaozong 唐高宗 and Empress Wu Zetian 武則天 at

Qianling 乾陵 (Compareti 2003: 203; Compareti2009a). The garments on Peroz’s statue include asimple long robe with an undecorated belt and ahanging bag, all quite similar to those of manyother statues at Qianling [Fig. 3]. In particular, thehanging bag, usually referred to in Chinese asa pannang 鞶囊 pouch, have long been associatedwith the Hu 胡 people, a term which was com-monly used in Chinese to refer to foreigners, espe-cially Sogdians (Qi 2018).

Because the face of the so-called Persian man in

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Fig. 2. The so called “Persian man” in the Tuoshan caves.Photo by author.

Fig. 3. The statue of Peroz at Qianling. Photo by Matteo Compareti.

Timurid Samarkand, was one of therichest and most powerful Sogdiancities between the sixth to eighth cen-turies. Previous studies of Sogdian andTurkish attire have concluded that bothof these peoples shared very similargarments and fashion in common (Yat-senko 2009; Yatsenko 2012). In addi-tion, seventh- and eighth-centurypaintings at Panjikent, an important ar-chaeological site now located in Tajik-istan, also depict Sogdian people anddeities wearing these types of garments,which are further embellished withdecorations commonly referred to as“pearl roundels” [Fig. 6].

At least two images of a “man of Persia”can be found in ancient Chinese art.

The “Tribute Office Scroll” (Zhigong tu 職貢圖),now held in the National Museum of China andbased on an original by Xiao Yi 蕭繹 of the LiangDynasty (502-556), is dated to 1077. It reproduces

Grotto No. 2 at Tuoshan has been destroyed, it isno longer possible to determine if he had a beard.Though his robe is long and plain, every detail ofthe opening on both sides on his chest and leatherbelt are reproduced with precision. These charac-teristics differ from those of the statue of Peroz atQianling, though they do resemble those of someother statues of foreigners at that same site [Fig.4]. Unfortunately, other inscriptions reproducedon the statues at Qianling are extremely enigmaticand it is not always easy to determine the identitiesof these foreign officials. We might consider theopen garments on the chest, like those in the stat-ues at Tuoshan and Qianling, as typical represen-tations of the clothing of people from Central Asia.

It is, however, impossible to identify such peoplewith any precision, given that Persians, Sogdians,Bactrians, Turks, and other Central Asians were alldepicted in Chinese statuary. At least one statue atQianling is portrayed with long hair woven intobraids, a feature which might identify him as aTurk. His garment is opened at the chest, but notin the same style as on the statue at Tuoshan. Turksadorned in a robe exactly like that depicted at Tu-oshan can also be observed in the mid-seventhcentury Sogdian painting at Afrasiab [Fig. 5].Afrasiab, situatedon the northernedge of a settle-ment that wouldlater become

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Fig. 4. The statue of a foreigner at Qianling. Photo by Matteo Compareti.

Fig. 5. Turks in a Sogdian painting atAfrasiab (pre-Islamic Samarkand).(After: Arzhantseva and Inevatkina2006: fig 2)

several foreigners, including a “Persian ambassa-dor” (Bosi guo shi 波斯國使) [Fig. 7]. It appearsthat none of these foreigners were represented ac-curately, likely due to the fact that Xiao Yi wasworking from second-hand descriptions (Com-pareti 2003: 202-3; Compareti 2009a). Theother “man of Persia” (Bosi guo ren 波斯國人) canbe observed in a ninth-century rock relief in the

Jianchuan 劍川 cavesin Yunnan Province.As in the Tuoshanstatue, the face on thisstatue was also delib-erately destroyed atsome point [Fig. 8],and nothing in his gar-ments or accessoriesindicates Persian fash-ion (Compareti 2003:204; Compareti2009a). In both cases,their identifications asa “man of Persia” is at-tested to solely by aninscription that is re-produced with theimage. Most likely,

these “men of Persia” were represented by Chineseartists who did not have the opportunity to observetheir subjects first hand.

The Statue of a Monk from Boxing

Neither the “Persian ambassador” in the “TributeOffice Scroll” by Xiao Yi nor the “man of Persia”from the Jianchuan caves reveal any special textiledecorations. As mentioned above, among the mosttypically “Persian” pat-terns for clothes, the so-called “pearl roundel” wascertainly the most popu-lar and widespread.

Although scholars havelong considered the pearlroundel decorative pat-tern as a specificallySasanian motif, it appearsonly very rarely in pre-Is-lamic Persian art. It ismore commonly found onlate Sasanian rock reliefsand architectural decora-tions in stucco (Compareti2005; Compareti 2009b). Itis possible that the pearlroundel decorative motifwas actually created inSogdiana, where it is re-produced very often on theclothes of local deities andother people. In China,textiles embellished withpearl roundels appear forthe first time as part of thegarments worn by promi-nent figures in the tombmurals of Xu Xianxiu 徐顯

秀, an officer who diedduring the Northern Qi era(550-577). In one case, awall painting [Fig. 9] con-tained in the Xu Xianxiutomb depicts pearlroundels on a saddleclothand the garments of a ser-vant. Inside each pearlroundel is a single human

Fig. 6. Sketch of garments embellished with pearl roundels ina Sogdian painting at Panjikent (room 10/sector XVII), TheState Hermitage.

Fig. 7. The “Persian ambas-sador” in the “Tribute OfficeScroll” (Zhigong tu 職貢圖).(After: Compareti 2003: fig 1)

Fig. 8. The “man of Persia.”Rock relief in Jianchuancaves. (After: Compareti2003: fig 4)

Fig. 9. Sketch of a maidser-vant wearing a garmentadorned with pearlroundels in the wall paint-ing of the Xu Xianxiu tomb.

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dong, presents some unexpected and extremely in-teresting details (Zhang 2015). Though the statue isunfortunately badly damaged in the upper part, itis the box in the hands of the monk that has drawnthe attention of scholars. Among the precious dec-orations reproduced in relief on the box is a pearlroundel containing an animal, most likely a bird[Fig. 10]. Boxes like this one have been found inChina proper, and others, embellished with verysimilar decorations, have been excavated in Xin-jiang as well (Yu 2018: 165). In at least one Buddhistbox (possibly a sarira, a container for holy relics)found by chance around Kucha [Fig. 11] and cur-rently kept in the Tokyo National Museum, typicalIranian pearl roundels can be observed on theupper lid. Due to similarities with such roundelsfound in China about this time, it is likely that thisKuchean box dates to around the seventh century.

It is highly probable that the box on the statuefrom Boxing [Fig. 10] is a detailed reproduction ofa precious object that was either imported fromabroad or locally produced in a Chinese Buddhistcontext. Objects like this are extremely rare in Chi-nese art, though they are described in writtensources. According to Chapter 68 of the Chronicleof the Sui Dynasty (Suishu 隋書) during the time

head, which, because of the head-gear, appears to depict a bod-hisattva. As is well known, theNorthern Qi rulers had very closerelations with Sogdian immigrantsand were avid patrons of Buddhism.Moreover, Sogdian immigrants areoften mentioned in Chinese writtensources. Persians, however, whocame from a land where Buddhismwas scarce, rarely make an appear-ance in Chinese texts. For this rea-son, it is much more probable thattextiles decorated with pearlroundels were introduced intoChina by Sogdians rather than Per-sians (Compareti 2004).

One statue of a Buddhist monk,now kept in the Boxing Archaeolog-ical Museum in Boxing 博兴, Shan-

Fig. 10. A box embellished with the pearl roundel decoration inthe hands of a Buddhist monk statue. Photo by author.

Fig. 11. Sketch of the sarira box from Kuchain Tokyo National Museum.

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The only other obvious specimen tobe found in China proper is repre-sented by the Li He coffin of the SuiDynasty period. The edges of the cof-fin are embellished with pearlroundels [Fig. 12] that contain theheads of various humans, animals,and monsters (Finsterbusch 1976: pl.14). It is worth observing, however,that Li’s personal name, as revealedon his epitaph, was Li Shijun, whichreminds us of the Sogdian ShiJun/Wirkak, whose sarcophagus wasfound in Xi’an (Shaanxi sheng wenwuguanli weiyuanhui 1966: 33). Anotherpossible example of the pearl roundelmotif was identified on the belt of asixth-century Buddhist statue fromSichuan, though upon closer exami-nation it does not seem to be exactlythe same pearl roundel decoration(Shi 2014: 81-90).

During recent excavations at ShoroonBumbagar in Mongolia, archaeolo-

gists uncovered an early sev-enth-century Turkish tomb inclassic Tang style (Erdenebol2017: fig. 16). Among the findswere many funerary stat-uettes (mingqi 明器 or 冥器),some of which evinced gar-ments embellished with pearlroundels. At least one othersuch funerary statuette hasbeen found in an early tombof the Astana cemetery inTurfan, and is now kept in theXinjiang Museum in Urumqi(Gasparini 2014: fig. 7). Someother Tang funerary stat-uettes, excavated at the tombof Prince Yi De 懿德 at Qian-ling, are in the shape ofmounted soldiers, whoseequine armor [Fig. 13] is em-bellished with pearl roundels.It is difficult to determine ifthese soldiers should be clas-sified as being of Chinese or

of Emperors Wendi 隋文帝 (581-604) and Yangdi 隋煬帝 (604-617),a man of foreign origins called “HeChou” 何稠 was appointed by offi-cial decree to produce glazed tiles,glass, and textiles in a “Persianstyle” in some workshops in the re-gion of Shu 蜀 (modern Sichuan).Unfortunately, no detailed descrip-tion of this “Persian style” of deco-rations can be found in Chinesesources. In a recent comment onthe “Persian style” textiles pro-duced by He Chou, some scholarsproposed to identify those decora-tions with pearl roundels, whichare considered to be typically Per-sian (de la Vaissière and Trombert2004: 941).

However, neither the Chronicle ofthe Sui Dynasty nor other Chi-nese written sources—includingthose that include the He Choubiography, such as the Compre-hensive Mirror to Aid in Gov-ernment (Zizhi tongjian 資治

通鑒)—reveal such a precisedescription. The Chronicle ofthe Sui Dynasty only men-tions a golden thread woventogether with that Persian tex-tile, but no pearl roundels.Moreover, the surname of HeChou clearly points to originsin central Sogdiana, more pre-cisely in Kushanya. As alreadyproposed by Matteo Com-pareti, it is very likely thatskilled Sogdian merchantsrepresented their own prod-ucts as Persian to various Chi-nese courts so as to increasetheir aura of exoticism andthus fetch a higher price fortheir sale (Compareti 2011).

As already mentioned above,pearl roundel decorations ap-pear very rarely in Chinese art.

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Fig. 12. Coffin surface embellishedwith pearl roundels from the Li Hetomb. (After: Finsterbusch 1976: pl. 14)

Fig. 13. The statuette of a mounted soldier whoseequine armor is embellished with pearl roundels,from the tomb of prince Yi De at Qianling. Photoby author.

of “Persia” that most Chinese elites held—a won-derful land from whence glass, metalwork, textiles,and other exotic goods originated—was mediatedlargely by the Sogdians. Perhaps it is for this reasonthat the statue of a generic foreigner from the westis still identified by the local people of Shandongas a “man of Persia,” even if it was probably a Sog-dian or a man from another Central Asian region.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Li Sifei 李思飞 is an independent scholar. She re-ceived her B.A. in art design from Beihang Univer-sity, and her M.A. in philosophy from the ChineseAcademy of Social Sciences. Her main interestsfocus on Hellenistic art and culture in Asia, alongwith cultural interactions between China and theWest along the Silk Road. She is the author ofShenxing, renxing, shixing de jiaoxiang: Xila rentidiaosu yishu shangxi 神性, 人性, 诗性的交响：希

腊人体雕塑艺术赏析 [Symphony of divinity, hu-manity and poetics: an appreciation of Greek stat-uary] (Nanjing, 2016). E-mail: <lsf_1019@126.com>.

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For all of these reasons, it does not seem that theChinese upper classes demonstrated any particularaffection for pearl roundels on textiles or other ob-jects. On the contrary, it was likely foreigners liv-ing in China or “barbarized” Chinese living inTurfan who tended to appreciate this kind of deco-ration. In all probability, however, pearl roundelswere not a pure Sasanian or Persian creation, butwere instead most likely a product of Sogdianweavers and artists who represented their goods as“Persian.” The production of textiles embellishedwith pearl roundels, it seems, was a specialty bothin the Sogdian motherland and in the Sogdiancommunities of China.

Conclusion

From the Northern Zhou to the mid-Tang era, theupper classes of China seem to have identified“men of Persia” (Bosiren or Bosi guo ren) as themost refined producers of exotic goods from theWestern Regions. This is curious, for, as we haveseen, it was the Sogdians who, by at least thefourth century C.E., constituted the earliest andmost numerous migrants into China from westernlands. Persians, however, did not arrive in Chinesecourts until several centuries later. Not only were“Persian” products highly esteemed in China, butthe image of the “vicious Persian magician” alsostarted to appear as a protagonist in Chinese fic-tion during the Tang dynasty (Schafer 1951). Andyet it is unlikely that precise information aboutSasanian Persia circulated in China proper duringthis time frame. Therefore, it seems probable thatsome “Persian” goods presented at Chinese courtsby westerners during this era were not presentedby actual Persians or even produced in an authen-tic Persian style. Rather, they seem to have beenproducts of the Sogdian homeland in Central Asiaor were produced by Sogdians living in China, suchas was evident in the case of He Chou.

Undoubtedly, the Chinese had some knowledge ofthe Persians, and it is possible that Chinese artistsmight have been able to model their works onthose Sasanian envoys who began to arrive in theterritory of China in the mid-fifth century (Com-pareti 2003). But it seems probable that the image

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