Feb., 1912. Jade. 343 



of the T'ang dynasty and mounted the throne in 907 as first emperor of 

 the Later Liang dynasty. The Sung editors pass their verdict on the 

 value of this reproduction as follows: "In this carving of the Great 

 Master Samantabhadra, the subject of the painting 'Washing the 

 Elephant' by Yen Li-pen of the T'ang period is imitated. There, the 

 image of the Buddha, the gods (Deva) with their attendants, the servants 

 of the elephant, the elephant itself and another quadruped are all 

 represented. But the most clever representation, though excellent in 

 its merits as a copy, cannot reach the original. In the method of carv- 

 ing, however, it is of perfect workmanship." 



This judgment is worthy of note, for it shows in what high estimation 

 the work of Yen was held in the Sung period, and that, as I understand, 

 the reproduction in question repeats the composition and style, but not 

 the true spirit or individual touch of the original. It should be added 

 that, according to the Sung Catalogue of Painters (Suan ho hua p'u, 

 Ch. 1, p. 5 b), the same subject had been painted by Chang Seng-yu 

 of the sixth century. 



Prof. Giles (/. c.) has given a brief description of this subject after 

 a woodcut inserted in the Fang-shih mo p'u of 1588 where some changes 

 are introduced, and has remarked that it is not easy to say to what this 

 picture refers. The explanation afforded by the Ku yii Vu p'u renders 

 it sufficiently clear. We now know that it is the question of Saman- 

 tabhadra's elephant, which symbolizes care, caution, gentleness, and a 

 weighty dignity (Edkins, Chinese Buddhism, p. 385). This Bodhisatva 

 is usually represented as mounted on an elephant and grouped into a 

 triad with the image of Buddha in the centre and that of Manjucri on 

 a lion's back. A Nepalese miniature depicting him astride an elephant 

 is reproduced in A. Foucher's "Etude sur l'iconographie bouddhique 

 de l'lnde" (Plate VI, No. 2; Paris, 1900). The cult of this god who 

 symbolizes goodness and happiness is localized on the famous mountain 

 Ngo-mei in Sze-ch'uan Province, where is erected in the temple Wan- 

 nien sze a colossal statue of the elephant, cast of white copper and twelve 

 feet high, surmounted by the image of the Bodhisatva enthroned on a 

 bronze lotus-flower. 1 Each of his feet rests on a lotus of bronze, in the 



1 Described by E. C. Baber, Travels and Researches in Western China, pp. 32-33, 

 and A. J. Little, Mount Omi and Beyond, p. 63, London, 1901. The six tusks of 

 the elephant mentioned by him and noticed by W. Anderson (Catalogue of Japanese 

 and Chinese Paintings, p. 81) on a Japanese scroll of the eighteenth century seem to 

 be a later addition, suggested by the legend of the six-tusked elephant in whose 

 shape Buddha entered the womb of his mother (compare Speyer, Zeitschrift d. 

 Deutschen Morgenl. Ges., Vol. LVII, 1903^.305). Yen s painting could certainly 

 not be cited as evidence for the fact that Samantabhadra's elephant originally had 

 only two tusks, for his aim was to delineate a lifelike scene. But from the beautiful 

 religious painting by Wu Tao-tse preserved in the temple Tofuku-ji near Kyoto 

 (Celebrated Painters of China, Vol. I, Plate III, Tokyo, 1907) we glean the fact 



