La conversion de Hārītī au Buddha : origine du thème iconographique et interprétations picturales chinoises

Abstract

This is an attempt to give an answer to the question of the origin of the Chinese pictorial theme of the Raising of the Alms' Bowl by the army of demons headed by Hariti, before she eventually submits to the Buddha. A comparison is drawn between pre-Chinese and Chinese paintings, with a particular focus on the exceptional site of Kizil, from the former Central Asian kingdom of Koutcha. This highlights the dynamic dimension of the Chinese iconography, and allows a new understanding of its connexion with Mara's Assault : analogies are drawn with the little known episode of Mara's Attempt to move the Buddha's water-pot. The common origin of both episodes - of Hariti's and Mara's submission - in the Za baozang jing is underlined, and their illustration in a yet unpublished Chinese Life of the Buddha of the 15th century are closely compared and discussed. The author then addresses the issue of connoisseurship for the scrolls of the Raising of the Alms' Bowl attributed to the famous painter of the Northern Song dynasty Li Gonglin. A critical analysis of the colophons attached to two paintings in particular, kept, for one, in the Guimet Museum, and, for the other one - a copy by the Japanese painter Kano Tan'yu (1602-1674) - in the Kyoto Museum, suggests that the scrolls were forged and produced in a serial and systematic way.