Mogao Cave 130

Mogao Cave 130 was built during High Tang Dynasty (705-781 AD). This is a large cave with a large Buddha sculpture, which was called the Northern Great Image in ancient times. Similar to cave 96, this is also a stone-bodied clay-stuccoed seated Buddha, totally 27 meters high. This image was constructed in Early Tang and remains untouched except the right hand in abhaya mudra and the belly are later restoration. According to the Regards of the Mogao Grottoes and tens of silk banners discovered in 1960s, construction of this cave began in Kaiyuan era, lasted more than thirty years and completed in Tianbao era. The votive inscriptions # on the south wall of the corridor indicate this cave was dedicated by Le Tinghuan, Satrap of Jinchang Prefecture, and his wife Lady Wang from Family Wang in Taiyuan. The portrait of Lady Wang on the south wall has a hairdo named Paojiaji, and wears green shirt and red skirt with a silk cloak. Behind her are two of her daughters and nine maids wearing banbi or putou and men's clothing, which demonstrates the piety and wealthy of the donors. The ceiling center features a coiled dragon motif painted in the Song dynasty, and the south and north walls each represent a large-sized 8ntlhisanva image of Western Xia. A High Tang illustration of Nirvana Sutra can be seen under the layer of Western Xia mural. Between 1877-1879, the Russian Central Asia Expedition led by Przhevalskii visited Dunhuang and made a sketch of this cave.