Henan province, Longmen complex, Central Binyang Cave
Northern Wei dynasty (386-534), ca. 522-23
Limestone with traces of pigment

Together with a companion piece showing an empress and her
attendants (now in the Nelson=Stkins Museum of Art, Kansas City),
this depiction of an emperor and his entourage once adorned the
Central Binyang Cave (also known as Cave 3) in the Longmen complex,
near Luoyang, in Henan province. It was positioned centrally on the
northeast wall between a group of protective semidivinities above
and a narrative debate scene below. Xuanwu commissioned the
construction of the Central Binyang Cave in honor of his father,
the emperor Xiaowen (r. 471-99), and his mother, the dowager Wenzhou
(d. 494); the emperor and empress in the reliefs are therefore believed
to refer to his parents.
A figure wearing court garments and holding a tasseled baton leads the
procession. He is followed by a smaller figure wearing armor and another
who stands before the emperor, holding an incense burner. The trees
originally indicated the point at which the procession moved around a corner,
from the north to the east wall. Several of the attendants hold lotuses or
other flowers and offereings, and the entire procession can be understood as
making offerings to the Buddhas in the cave, an act of merit making that
would continue in perpetuity and improve the future lives of the participants.

Fletcher Fund, 1935