CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

pies, such as the Famen Monastery's Ming dynasty
octagonal pagoda, tended to be constructed of
brick, but many early pagodas, including the earlier
four-story square pagoda of the Famen Monastery,
were constructed of wood, perfectly exemplified in
this gilt bronze, single-story model. 1 The foundations
show that the earlier Famen Monastery structure
had four main supporting columns and twenty
outer columns; it had five bays on each side, instead
of the three that we see in this example.
This pagoda was found wrapped in silks inside
a larger stone stupa, which was found at the far end
of the first chamber, 2 flanked by two stone lions
that had fallen over. The stone stupa itself had tilted
to one side, and extensive chips along the projecting
edges suggest that it may well have been moved
from its original position on one or more of the
occasions when the relics were conveyed to the
capital. 3 It was one of the first objects found when
the doors leading from the corridor to the first
chamber were opened.
Like the buildings in Tang depictions of Buddhist
Pure Lands (paradises), the model rises on
terraces from a lotus pool. On each of the four
sides, steps and bridges, guarded by paired lions
on columns, provide access across the pool to the
main terrace and the four locked doors. Standing
in front of the windows, two lokapalas (Heavenly
Kings) guard the main entrance. Slender columns
support the projecting eaves and tiled roof. The
mast that crowns the pagoda has six canopies
(chattms), a seventh of distinctive, umbrella-like
form, and, successively, a ring or halo, crescent
moon and jewel, and a lotus bud finial. In architectural
form and detail, this is a work of the early or
High Tang dynasty, seventh to eighth century BCE,
reflecting Pure Land Buddhism, with no hint of any
Esoteric elements. The motif of a crescent moon
and jewel, in particular, which ultimately derives
from the crowns of Sassanian kings, appears frequently
in the headdresses of Early and High Tang
bodhisattvas in the cave-temples at Dunhuang.
Nevertheless, the workmanship of the small parcelgilt
silver coffin contained within the pagoda,
which in turn held a fingerbone relic (actually a
precise replica of the principal relic found inside
the set of nesting caskets, cat. 164), is similar to that
of the many objects made much later, around the
time of the final dedication in 874. RW
1 Excavated in 1987 (FD 3:002 - 2); reported: Shaanxi
19883, 20.
2 Han and Zhao 1998, 351.
3 Whitfield 19903, 253 - 254.
469 FAMEN MONASTERY AT FUFENC