Close-up: Cave 3, Yungang Grottoes, Datong, China

View of the three monumental statues of Cave 3, the largest cave at Yungang Grottoes. Although the grotto itself was started during the Northern Wei period, these sculptures, located at the back of the cave, were made later, during the Tang Dynasty. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Layers of natural sandstone in Cave 3, Yungang Grottoes. Easily overlooked when juxtaposed with the site’s impressive carvings, the undecorated parts of the caves hold their own particular beauty. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

The presence of a second-story opening is a common feature at Yungang, allowing light into the cave’s chambers, and, in some cases, causing the Buddha’s face to be visible from outside. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Close-up of the worked and textured stone of Cave 3’s second-story opening and chamber wall. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Note the squatting man at the lower left, dwarfed by one of the two smaller statues of Cave 3. Yungang Grottoes, Datong, China. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Carved floor stones and small side opening in Cave 3, Yungang Grottoes. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

The monumental Buddha of Cave 3, Yungang Grottoes. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Hewn steps and exit of Cave 3, Yungang Grottoes. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Yungang Grottoes, Datong, China

Maitreya Buddha, Cave 13, Yungang Grottoes. Like most of the Buddhas at Yungang, this monumental, two-story Buddha possesses a peaceful “archaic” smile, doubly named for its emergence during this early period of Chinese buddhist imagery and for its resemblance to the similarly languid expression associated with archaic Greek art [Sherman]. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Yungang, home of colossal and brightly colored monuments to Mahayana Buddhism, is itself a monument to the cosmopolitanism of northern China in the 5th and 6th centuries. Here, during the Northern Wei period, cultures from across Asia mixed to form what is sometimes referred to as the “Archaic style”: the first style associated with Chinese Buddhism.

It’s likely that, like Buddhism itself, the technique of carving directly into the cliff face (or “living rock”) was an import from India, where monumental, in situ carving was already well-established. According to art historian Sherman E. Lee, many of the artists who worked at the site were likely from, or trained by those from, Central Asia, and drew their bright, flat color schemes and slightly rigid figures from their experiences with the paintings and sculptures of that region. In some caves, these Central Asian features merged with the flowing, native style of the late Zhou and Han Dynasties, as visible in the ceiling of Cave 9, pictured below.

The site includes around 51,000 statues—ranging from two stories to a couple of inches in height—distributed across a kilometer of mountainside. The number of caves at Yungang is variably listed as 53 (Yale and MIT, both of which use Grove Art as their source) or 252 (UNESCO), perhaps depending on how “cave” is defined. Unfortunately, the pollution created by neighboring coal mines has caused significant damage, leaving many exterior statues ghostly, wasted versions of their original forms, and erasing others entirely. Some of the smaller sculptures have also left the caves by way of the black market. The good news, however, is that China’s government now recognizes Yungang as a major tourist draw—and alternate source of income—for the region, and has taken significant steps to preserve and restore what remains of this important artistic, cultural, and religious landmark.

Sources

I visited Yungang in 2009, and some of the information for this post came from my China Highlights tour guide and on-site signage. The rest can be found in the following:

Lonely Planet, “Yungang Caves” (accessed February 9, 2020).

MIT Libraries DOME, “Yungang Grottoes, Cave 8” (accessed February 9, 2020).

Sherman E. Lee, A History of Far Eastern Art, 5th edition (Harry N. Abrams 1994), pp. 156–58. [for technical and stylistic analysis]

UNESCO, “Yungang Grottoes” (accessed February 9, 2020).

Yale University Library Digital Collections, “Yungang Grottoes: Cave 13 (Datong, China)” (accessed February 9, 2020).

Cave 9, Yungang Grottoes, Datong, China. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Exterior of Cave 11, Yungang Grottoes, carved into the north-facing cliff of Wuzhou Mountain, near Datong, China. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Statues in the Yungang Grottoes, China. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Cave 9, Yungang Grottoes, Datong, China. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Cave 20 (460–70 CE) originally contained three statues representing the past, present, and future Buddhas. Yungang Grottoes, Datong, China. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Cave 3, Yungang Grottoes. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Cave interior, Yungang Grottoes, China. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

View of Cave 19, Yungang Grottoes, Datong, China. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Buddhas weathered by time and acid rain, Yungang, China. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Lion statue near the modern entrance to the Yungang Grottoes. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.