![Nestorian Temple - Palm Sunday](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Nestorian_Temple_-_Palm_Sunday.jpg)
The murals from the Christian temple at Qocho (german: Wandbilder aus einem christlichen Tempel, Chotscho) are three
Church of the East
The Church of the East ( syc, ܥܕܬܐ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ, ''ʿĒḏtā d-Maḏenḥā'') or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church or the Nestorian C ...
mural
A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage.
Word mural in art
The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...
fragments—''Palm Sunday'', ''Repentance'' and ''Entry into Jerusalem''—discovered by the
German Turpan expedition team, which was led by two German archaeologists
Albert Grünwedel and
Albert von Le Coq
Albert von Le Coq (; 8 September 1860 Berlin, Prussia – 21 April 1930 Berlin, Germany) was a Prussian/German brewery owner and wine merchant, who at the age of 40 began to study archaeology.''Schatzjagd an der Seidenstraße.'' A film by Susanne ...
, in the early 20th century.
These murals were painted in the 7th to 9th centuries (
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
),
belonging to a ruined Church of the East church at
Qocho
Qocho (), also known as Idiqut, ("holy wealth"; "glory"; "lord of fortune") was a Uyghur kingdom created in 843, with strong Chinese Buddhist and Tocharian influences. It was founded by Uyghur refugees fleeing the destruction of the Uyghur Kh ...
, an ancient oasis city located in present-day
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
, the westernmost region of China. The original ''Entry into Jerusalem'' is lost, there is only a copy of line drawing made by Grünwedel.
The murals are preserved in the
Museum of Asian Art
The Museum of Asian Art (german: Museum für Asiatische Kunst) is a part of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin since 2020. Before its relocation it was sited in the neighborhood of the borough of , Berlin, Germany. It is one of the Berlin State Museums ...
in
Dahlem,
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
.
Description
''Palm Sunday''
The mural measures 63 cm long and 70 cm wide, shows a man on the left of
Near Eastern
The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...
descent (or more specifically, an
Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
, according to ), presumably a
deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...
or a priest.
He has
aquiline nose
An aquiline nose (also called a Roman nose) is a human nose with a prominent bridge, giving it the appearance of being curved or slightly bent. The word ''aquiline'' comes from the Latin word ''aquilinus'' ("eagle-like"), an allusion to the curved ...
, the head surrounded by thick black curls is reminiscent of
late antique
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English has ...
representations. His clothing consists of a white vestment with a green collar, reaching to the feet, over which he wears a shorter garment of white with green cuffs. The plump feet are clad in rugged black shoes. In his left hand he wields a golden
thurible
A thurible (via Old French from Medieval Latin ) is a metal censer suspended from chains, in which incense is burned during worship services. It is used in Christian churches including the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Assyrian Church of th ...
, the smoke is represented by a swift upward wavy line that dissolves in spirals at the top. In his right hand he holds a black, bowl-like object, which might be a holy water vessel.
The three figures approaching from the right, two men and a woman with slightly bowed heads, are carrying what might be palm branches. The two men are wearing similar hats and coats with wide
revers
A revers or rever is a part of a garment that is reversed to display the lining or facing outside. The word is borrowed from French ''revers'', which is reflected in the final ''s'' being silent.
The most common form of revers is the lapel. The ...
, hung round the shoulders like
cape
A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck.
History
Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...
s. The long, unicolour coat, which is brown in the first man, gray-blue in the second, and seems to be worn without a belt. The long sleeves of the coats hang empty and they hold their branches in one hand from within their coats. The first male figure wears a brown,
turban
A turban (from Persian دولبند, ''dulband''; via Middle French ''turbant'') is a type of headwear based on cloth winding. Featuring many variations, it is worn as customary headwear by people of various cultures. Communities with promine ...
-like headgear; the black hair is visible behind the left ear. The second male figure has a large, black and
frustoconical hat worn on his head; on the feet both wear brownish coloured shoes.
The female figure on the right is dressed in and , the traditional Chinese attires which consist of a short, long-sleeved green jacket, reaching only to the middle of the upper part of the body, and a long skirt, which covers the feet; a brown cloak or scarf covered, slightly thrown over the right half of the body from the shoulder to about half of the thigh, and the left shoulder to the chest. She wears green shoes with turned-up toes. The dense, black hair is folded on the apex to a spherical structure. The three worshippers may be compared with the figures of
Uyghur princes and princesses holding flowers in the cave paintings at
Bezeklik
The Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves (, Uyghur: بزقلیق مىڭ ئۆيى ) is a complex of Buddhist cave grottos dating from the 5th to 14th century between the cities of Turpan and Shanshan (Loulan) at the north-east of the Taklamakan Desert ...
.
A donkey's hoof visible at the top of the scene is part of the lost fresco ''Entry into Jerusalem'',
this has led to the interpretation that the scene portrays a
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Holy ...
rite.
The Japanese professor also considers the mural to be a depiction of Palm Sunday; another Japanese scholar Daijirō Yoshimura () argues that the larger figure on the left representing
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
, the three figures on the right represent
Saint Peter
Saint Peter; he, שמעון בר יונה, Šimʿōn bar Yōnāh; ar, سِمعَان بُطرُس, translit=Simʿa̅n Buṭrus; grc-gre, Πέτρος, Petros; cop, Ⲡⲉⲧⲣⲟⲥ, Petros; lat, Petrus; ar, شمعون الصفـا, Sham'un ...
,
Saint John and
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...
.
''Repentance''
This smaller painting measures 43 cm long and 21 cm wide. It represents a young woman in a state of
repentance
Repentance is reviewing one's actions and feeling contrition or regret for past wrongs, which is accompanied by commitment to and actual actions that show and prove a change for the better.
In modern times, it is generally seen as involving a co ...
.
She is in a long, reddish brown dress with wide, loose sleeves, which conceal the hands folded on the front body. The whitish undergarment reaches to the floor and reveals only the very large, upturned ends of the shoes, which rise up under the hem.
''Entry into Jerusalem''
This lost wall painting was sketched by Grünwedel in 1905. It depicts a bearded figure (Jesus) mounted on a donkey holding a processional cross with arms terminating in pearls and
entering Jerusalem,
with a female figure (believer) dressing in the
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
costume. The cross which the figure holding is similar to the processional cross depicted on a lost
Manichean
Manichaeism (;
in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian prophet Mani (AD ...
banner from Qocho.
The rider has a headdress with a cross set in it and he wears a short upper garment which appears to billow out.
See also
*
Nestorian pillar of Luoyang
The Nestorian pillar of Luoyang is a Tang Chinese pillar erected in 814–815 CE, which contains inscriptions related to early Christianity in China, particularly the Church of the East. It is a Nestorian pillar, discovered in 2006 in Luoyang, w ...
*
Painting of a Christian figure
The ''Painting of a Christian figure'', also known as ''Fragment of a Christian figure'', is a late 9th-century Tang dynasty fragmentary silk painting of a haloed man with crosses on his head and chest who has been interpreted as a Christian figu ...
Notes
References
{{Christianity and China
7th-century paintings
8th-century paintings
9th-century paintings
Ancient Central Asian art
Fresco paintings in Germany
Tang dynasty paintings
Jesus in art
Church of the East in China
Lost paintings