敦煌莫高窟第217窟主室供养人画像调查新发现

A New Discovery on the Donor Figures in Cave 217 at Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes

在对敦煌莫高窟第217窟进行全面调查时,发现西壁龛下的供养人画像行列下方还存有底层壁画。这些底层壁画内容依然是供养人。经过研究,认为第217窟不是传统意义上的盛唐洞窟,而是开凿于武则天时期的洞窟,由初唐时期的敦煌大族阴稠家族开凿。

As part of a comprehensive investigation of Mogao cave 217, some paintings have been found under rows of donor figures below the western niche that also depict patrons of Buddhist art. The study suggests that cave 217 is not a traditional High Tang cave, as was previously supposed, because it was constructed by the powerful Yin family of Dunhuang during the reign period of Wu Zetian in the Early Tang period.