Splendor on the Silk Road: Dunhuang Caisson Ceilings (Two-Volume Set)

A specialist reference book featuring reconstructed designs of Dunhuang caisson ceilings.

[Editor's Recommendations]

⭐ Comprehensive coverage and detailed reconstructions. This book brings together representative caisson ceiling and square-ceiling designs from Dunhuang, spanning historical periods from the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Yuan Dynasty. It includes both complete designs and enlarged details for readers to consult.

⭐ Expert commentary and authoritative interpretation. Leading Dunhuang studies experts provide explanations and introductions, alongside specialist reconstructions and detailed plate captions. The book serves as a reference for professionals in many fields, including arts and crafts and graphic design.

⭐ Richly illustrated and easy to understand. The book features caisson ceiling designs from Dunhuang spanning the Northern and Southern Dynasties through the Yuan Dynasty, showing both full compositions and close-up details, accompanied by clear, accessible explanations.

[Synopsis]

This two-volume collection presents reconstructed caisson ceiling designs from Dunhuang throughout the ages. Caisson ceilings are a concentrated and comprehensive expression of Dunhuang decorative art. A caisson ceiling consists of interlocking wooden beams arranged like a well and decorated with ornamental patterns, and is located at the top of traditional Chinese timber buildings. In the traditional Chinese Five Elements theory, fire overcomes wood and water overcomes fire. Painting stylized aquatic plants on wooden structures that are highly vulnerable to fire is not only beautiful, but also carries the symbolism of fire prevention.

Dunhuang decorative paintings and figure paintings began and ended in the same periods, spanning a thousand years of artistic production from the Eastern Jin and Sixteen Kingdoms to the end of the Yuan Dynasty. Decorative designs were created continuously throughout this time. Their lineage remained unbroken, though the styles differed from one era to another. They run through the entire history of artistic creation at Dunhuang. What makes this especially valuable is that the process unfolded naturally, both spontaneously and consciously, as a concrete expression of the human state of mind. The following sections discuss their historical development and artistic styles.

[About the Author]

Yang Dongmiao was born in November 1969 into a family devoted to Dunhuang art in the ancient city of Xi'an. She loved painting from an early age and later studied meticulous, richly colored figure painting with her elders. Immersed in the art of Dunhuang murals, she resolved to devote her life to reconstructing them so that more people could witness the finest achievements of Chinese civilization. She furthered her studies at the Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts, the PLA Academy of Arts, and the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts, deepening her theoretical knowledge and refining her painting skills.

Since 1992, she has spent millions of yuan reconstructing and copying more than 300 Dunhuang murals. She has held major exhibitions of reconstructed Dunhuang murals in Xi'an, Beijing, Foshan, Shunde, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Nantong, Taipei, and elsewhere, earning widespread acclaim. She designed all the caisson ceiling patterns and some of the murals for the nine-story pagoda at Xifang Temple, commissioned by the Hong Kong Bodhi Society. From 2012 to 2015, she spent three years reconstructing Cave 220 from the Early Tang and Cave 45 from the High Tang at Datang West Market, near the starting point of the Silk Road in Xi'an. In 2015, she designed and painted the 400-square-meter panoramic mural The Avatamsaka Sutra Transformation at Huayan Hall in the Peacock Temple in Fufeng, Shaanxi. In 2016, she created Tang-style caisson ceiling designs for the Xi'an Guangyao Culture and Communication Center, and designed and produced a ten-meter-tall, four-faced Buddha statue for Liquan County, Shaanxi.

Since 2002, her published works have included Recreating Dunhuang: A Collection of Masterful Reconstructed Dunhuang Murals, Flying Apsaras of Dunhuang, A Collection of Dunhuang Mural Line Drawings, A Collection of Dunhuang's Finest Decorative Borders and Aureoles Through the Ages, 100 Finest Dunhuang Caisson Ceiling Designs Through the Ages, and Line Drawings of Dunhuang's Finest Dances.