page_title: Rock relief
section_title: Buddhism
hierarchical_section_title: Rock relief / Buddhism
caption_attribution_description: Leshan da fo/Leshan Giant Buddha feet to head, Flickr image, modified by Rbmk.
context_page_description: A rock relief or rock-cut relief is a relief sculpture carved on solid or "living rock" such as a cliff, rather than a detached piece of stone. They are a category of rock art, and sometimes found as part of, or in conjunction with, rock-cut architecture. However, they tend to be omitted in most works on rock art, which concentrate on engravings and paintings by prehistoric peoples. A few such works exploit the natural contours of the rock and use them to define an image, but they do not amount to man-made reliefs. Rock reliefs have been made in many cultures throughout human history, and were especially important in the art of the ancient Near East. Rock reliefs are generally fairly large, as they need to be in order to have an impact in the open air. Most of those discussed here have figures that are over life-size, and in many the figures are multiples of life-size.
  Stylistically they normally relate to other types of sculpture from the culture and period concerned, and except for Hittite and Persian examples they are generally discussed as part of that wider subject.
context_section_description: Buddhism, originating in India, took the traditions of cave and rock-cut architecture to other parts of Asia, including the creation of rock reliefs. In these the emphasis shifted to religious subject matter; in earlier reliefs deities had normally appeared only to show their approval of the ruler. The colossal Buddha figures are nearly all in very high relief, only still attached to the rock face at the rear.  Several have or had "image houses", or buildings enclosing them, which meant that they could normally only be seen very close up, and the impressive view from further back was lost to pilgrims.
  In Sri Lanka colossal Buddha figures include the Avukana Buddha statue, 5th century and almost free-standing, with only a narrow strip at the back still connecting it to the cliff, and the four 12-century Buddha figures at Gal Vihara; the brick foundations for image houses can be seen here.  The seven 10th-century figures at Buduruvagala are in much lower relief.  There are very lively elephants carved around a temple pool at Isurumuniya. Of the colossal lion gateway to the hill-palace at Sigiriya, only the paws remain, the head having fallen off at some point.
  The three famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites in China are the Mogao Caves, Longmen Grottoes (672–673 for the main group) and Yungang Grottoes (460–535), all of which have colossal Buddha statues in very high relief, cut back into huge niches in the cliff, though the largest figure at Mogao is still enclosed by a wooden image house superstructure in front of it; this is also thought to be a portrait of the reigning empress Wu Zetian.  One of the Longmen figures is effectively in a man-made cave, but can be seen from outside through a large window opened in the outer face (see gallery).  Smaller rock-cut sculptures and paintings decorate the cave temples at these sites.
  The Tang dynasty Leshan Giant Buddha, the largest of all, was built with a superstructure covering it, which was destroyed by the Mongols.  Such large figures were a novelty in Chinese art, and adapted conventions from further west.  The Dazu Rock Carvings include scenes with unusually large numbers of figures, such as a famous and large scene of the Buddhist Judgement of Souls. These are set back into the cliff and the shelter has enabled them to retain their bright colours.  Other Chinese Buddhist cave sites with external rock reliefs include Lingyin Temple with many small reliefs, and the Maijishan Grottoes with a main colossal group; unusually for figures of such a size, they are in bas-relief. 
  The Bamiyan Buddha figures were two standing Buddha figures of the 6th century in Afghanistan which were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001; they probably were one of the immediate influences on the Chinese sites further east on the Silk Road. In Japan the Nihon-ji temple includes a colossal seated Buddha completed in 1783, 31 metres tall.  Japanese "Great Buddha" statues are called "daibutsu", but most are in bronze.
  Sites elsewhere include Kbal Spean near Angkor in Cambodia, which has both Hindu and Buddhist reliefs.  These are placed in rocky shallows of the river, with water flowing over them. Large numbers of short lingams and deities were intended to purify the water that flowed over them on its way to the city.
caption: The Tang dynasty Leshan Giant Buddha
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