沙州回鹘洞窟与沙州回鹘政权

Shazhou Uighur Caves and the Uighur Regime in Dunhuang

敦煌回鹘风格壁画一般被认为是独立的“沙州回鹘政权”的重要历史遗存,但事实并非如此。一是被认为属于“沙州回鹘”有力证据的回鹘装王像的时代,分属曹氏晚期和沙州回鹘两个时期;二是所谓“沙州回鹘洞窟”即回鹘风格壁画的洞窟,是可以早到曹氏归义军晚期的,而且和困扰敦煌晚期石窟分期的“绿壁画”一开始就如影随形,同时出现、共同发展,延续到沙州回鹘时期。沙州回鹘之后,由于受到曹氏遗民的影响,纯正风格的“绿壁画”再次回归大众视野。之前划分出来的“沙州回鹘洞窟”,根据供养人画像服饰的回鹘装和曹氏装男女供养人分布的不同,可以大致认为其中出现清一色曹氏装女供养像的洞窟,其时代是可以早到曹氏晚期的,而男女供养像清一色为回鹘装的洞窟则可以肯定是沙州回鹘时期。

Dunhuang's Uighur-style murals are generally regarded as significant historical relics of the independent“Shazhou Uighur Regime,”but this interpretation is not entirely accurate.Firstly,images of Uighur kings in Uighur attire appear not only in the caves from the Shazhou Uighur period but also in those from the late Cao clan period.Secondly,the so-called“Shazhou Uighur Caves,”characterized by Uighur-style murals,can be traced back to the late Cao clan Guiyi Army period.These caves,along with the“green murals,”which complicate the chronological classification of Dunhuang's late caves,appeared simultaneously and developed together,continuing into the Shazhou Uighur period.After the Shazhou Uighur period,influenced by remnants of the Cao clan,the pure style of the“green murals”re-emerged in Dunhuang.Based on the different distributions of male and female donors in Uighur and Cao attire,caves with exclusively Cao-dressed female donors likely belong to the late Cao period,while caves with donor images exclusively in Uighur attire can be confirmed as from the Shazhou Uighur period.