Eyes Wide Shut: A Statue’s Missing Gaze

Today, we’ll talk about how a discovery at a humble flea-market led to the remarkable homecoming of a stolen Buddha’s eye and the high-tech quest to reunite Yungang Grottoes’ lost relics with their ancient statues.

Transcript

Eyes Wide Shut: A Statue’s Missing Gaze

Today, we’ll talk about how a discovery at a humble flea-market led to the remarkable homecoming of a stolen Buddha’s eye and the high-tech quest to reunite Yungang Grottoes’ lost relics with their ancient statues.

A suspected “Buddha’s eye,” lost for over a century, was recently returned to the Yungang Grottoes located in the city of Datong of central China’s Shanxi Province. This black-glazed ceramic eyeball remains remarkably lustrous to this day and closely resembles the ceramic eyes still preserved in their original positions at the Yungang Grottoes.

The donor of the ceramic eye is Tian Yijun, a resident of Taiyuan, capital city of Shanxi. In 2006, Tian encountered the black ceramic artifact at an antique stall by the roadside near Datong Stadium. Even the seller was unaware of its origin. Though familiar with ancient ceramics, Tian had never seen such an object before and bought it out of curiosity.

Nearly two decades later, Tian happened upon a photo of a ceramic eye from Cave 8 of the Yungang Grottoes, housed in the Kyoto Humanities Research Institute in Japan. Noticing its striking resemblance to the artifact he had acquired years earlier, he contacted the Yungang Research Institute. He expressed his willingness to donate it unconditionally if it was confirmed to be an authentic Buddha’s eye from the grottoes.  

In March of this year, Zhao Kunyu, chairman of the Shanxi Lingyan Yungang Grottoes Protection and Research Foundation and former director of the Yungang Grottoes Museum, was entrusted to visit Tian’s home to examine the ceramic eye. He later brought it back to Datong for further appraisal. 

After news of the Buddha’s eye’s return was made public, some internet users raised doubts, suggesting that the artifact might instead resemble a “ceramic paddle” – a tool used to shape pottery by patting its surface during production.

In reality, this possibility had been considered early in the appraisal process. Zhao Kunyu told The Context that upon the artifact’s arrival at Yungang, experts conducted repeated evaluations. The initial hypothesis was that it might be a grinding tool or ceramic paddle. However, ceramic paddles typically have a flat surface, whereas this object is distinctly convex and spherical, with a fine glaze and mirror-like sheen.

As for the conjecture that it might be a grinding tool, such tools are typically designed with coarse, ridged surfaces to achieve a grinding effect – yet this ceramic artifact shows no signs of wear from grinding. Moreover, since the object originates from the Datong region, experts lean toward identifying it as a Buddha’s eye, though they do not entirely rule out other possible functions.

Unlike other comparable ceramics, Buddha’s eyes have very few distinctive traits, and reference cases are extremely scarce, Zhao Kunyu explained. In recent years, the Yungang Research Institute has been dedicated to in-depth investigations and tracking of lost statues. He said that if this artifact is indeed a Buddha’s eye from Yungang, then it is incredibly fortunate to have seized a rare opportunity. If not, it still provides valuable reference for future research on sculpted eyes. The authentication of cultural relics itself requires continuous debate and verification.

Zhan Changfa, former deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage and a researcher who has led multiple national projects on stone and grotto heritage conservation and restoration, told our reporter that determining the origin of the ceramic eye requires a comprehensive analysis of artistic style, material craftsmanship, archaeology, and scientific techniques.

For instance, in terms of artistic style, one could compare the elongated eye shape characteristic of Yungang’s Buddha statues and the stylistic features of sculptures from different eras to assess the artifact’s artistic alignment. Regarding material craftsmanship, the composition of grotto statues often carries regional traits – if the suspected eyeball’s material matches that of a specific grotto or contains the same unique additives, it could serve as evidence for authentication. Similarly, if the painted or carved details of the eye align with the craftsmanship of a particular grotto, it could establish a connection.  

Archaeological and scientific analytical methods can also play a crucial role. Zhan noted that spectroscopic and mass spectrometric analyses could provide detailed insights into the eye’s material composition. Comparing these findings with databases of grotto statue materials could strengthen the determination of its provenance. In 2022, during restoration work at the Longmen Grottoes, archaeologists discovered glass eyeballs made of silicon dioxide and lead in the eyes of the attendant Samantabhadra Bodhisattva statue beside the Vairocana Buddha. These were confirmed to match the composition of ancient glass. The preservation of large, flake-shaped Tang Dynasty glass artifacts in grotto statues is exceptionally rare.

Although ceramic eyeballs are small in size and not particularly valuable, they imbue statues with a vivid, spiritual presence. The Yungang Grottoes Museum houses several ceramic eyeballs, varying in shape and size, primarily in two forms: mushroom-shaped and conical. The largest among them is a conical piece, measuring 11.5 cm in diameter and 14.4 cm in height. The recently discovered suspected ceramic eye stands 7 cm tall, with a hemispherical head 10 cm in diameter and a flat base 4.5 cm in diameter, weighing approximately half a kilogram.  

During the Northern Wei Dynasty, the statues in the Yungang Grottoes were purely stone-carved, featuring slender eyebrows and elongated eyes. The practice of adding separate eyeballs to sculptures emerged later, from the Liao and Jin dynasties to the late Qing Dynasty. According to research, 76 statues across 16 caves in Yungang were once fitted with ceramic eyes, including depictions of Buddhas, bodhisattvas, heavenly attendants, and guardian figures. Today, only about ten remain intact. Traces suggest that the eyeball stems embedded into the stone carvings came in funnel-shaped or flat-bottomed varieties.  

Zhan Changfa explained that Yungang is currently the only grotto temple with definitive evidence of widespread Buddha eye installations during the Liao and Jin dynasties. Other grotto temples either lack historical records or have insufficient archaeological findings to confirm similar practices. This phenomenon, he noted, is closely tied to the special emphasis the Liao and Jin regimes placed on Yungang and the development of Buddhist art in the region, further highlighting Yungang’s pivotal role as a Buddhist cultural center during that era.

Drilling holes into stone to embed eyeballs presented significant technical challenges. The practice of installing eyeballs during the Liao and Jin dynasties was closely tied to advancements in Buddhist art, improvements in glassmaking techniques, and a heightened emphasis on the spiritual symbolism of Buddha statues. As Zhan Changfa explained, artisans of that era not only preserved the Northern Wei stylistic traditions but also incorporated Liao and Jin aesthetic sensibilities, particularly emphasizing the decorative and spiritual dimensions of Buddhist imagery.

For many years, amid the vast and urgent array of cultural relic conservation priorities, ceramic eyeballs had not emerged as a focal point of research. Zhao Kunyu admitted, “The study of Buddha’s eyes has only just begun.”

Between 1992 and 1993, during excavations at the Yungang Grottoes’ front-site ruins, a fingernail-sized ceramic eyeball was unearthed from the Liao-Jin stratigraphic layer. To date, this remains the only unequivocally verified Liao-Jin-era eyeball definitively originating from Yungang, leaving no room for doubt about its authenticity.

This ceramic eye may have fallen out naturally. Zhan Changfa noted that installing eyeballs in stone carvings required mortise-and-tenon joints and adhesive techniques, which are difficult to preserve over time and prone to detachment. Consequently, few embedded eyeballs survive in grotto temples today, with most remaining examples found on painted wooden statues in monasteries.

Beyond natural detachment, human destruction is another likely factor. In the early 20th century, Yungang endured its darkest period, when foreign antiquities traffickers colluded with locals to loot statues on a massive scale. Many later-added eyeballs, being loosely attached, were easily stolen – yet ironically, these plain orbs held little appeal for traffickers. With no market value or profit potential, most were casually discarded, with only a handful scattered among civilians. Over time, even local residents forgot their original purpose. This explains why, despite the vast number of lost Yungang Buddha eyes, surviving examples are exceptionally rare today.

Currently, two Yungang ceramic eyeballs are preserved at the Institute for Research in Humanities at Kyoto University in Japan. Both were “collected” from Cave 8, including one measuring 7.2 cm in height and 7.0 cm in diameter, originally the eye of the central seated Buddha on the cave’s north upper wall. In 2006, Japanese scholar Hidenori Okamura first disclosed this information in his book Yungang Grottoes Artifacts: Research Report of Kyoto University’s Institute for Research in Humanities. These remain the only two known Yungang ceramic eyes dispersed overseas.

For a long period, only one Yungang Buddha eye was known to exist outside the grottoes themselves – until its significant return in 1985.

“I present to you one ceramic eyeball from the Yungang stone Buddha.” These were the opening words of a letter written at the beginning of that year by renowned archaeologist Su Bai, a professor at Peking University’s Department of Archaeology, to Lü Jimin, then director of the Cultural Relics Bureau of China’s Ministry of Culture. In the letter, Su Bai explained: “This object was donated by Mr. Laurence Sickman, retired board member of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas, USA. While many ceramic eyes have been lost from Yungang’s great Buddhas, this is currently the only known surviving example in the world.”

Laurence Sickman, a prominent figure in American museum circles, served as director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum for 25 years. During his studies in China in the 1930s, he concurrently worked as an acquisitions agent for the museum, personally procuring over half of its 7,000-piece Chinese art collection – including priceless treasures like the Empress Offering Procession relief from the Longmen Grottoes’ Binyang Central Cave. When Sickman visited Yungang in 1932, strict anti-looting measures were already in place. He managed to buy just one ceramic eyeball from local villagers for a single silver dollar.

More than half a century later, after establishing frequent exchanges with China’s cultural heritage community, the retired Sickman decided to repatriate the eye. Through Su Bai’s mediation, the artifact returned to Yungang, where it remains the largest ceramic eyeball in the Yungang Grottoes Museum’s collection.

Crafted from refined clay, the eyeball features a slightly convex, rounded surface coated with thick black glaze. A near-circular indentation on its back – a scar from firing – served as an adhesive anchor point for securing it into the stone socket. To identify its original location, Yungang researchers meticulously examined all eye cavities across the grottoes’ statues.

The artifact’s journey reflects complex historical currents: from its detachment during an era of plunder, through decades in foreign collections, to its eventual homecoming – a rare intact witness to Yungang’s Liao-Jin period artistic innovations. As Zhao Kunyu noted, each recovered eye offers irreplaceable insights: “They’re not just components, but physical connections to the spiritual vision of ancient artisans.”

Zhao Kunyu noted that the main seated Buddha statue in Cave 19-1, standing 7.75 meters tall, has lost both of its ceramic eyeballs, leaving behind eye sockets measuring 10-10.5 cm in diameter – a near-perfect match for the dimensions of the returned ceramic eye. This makes it the primary candidate for repositioning. “With today’s advanced 3D printing technology,” he said, “we can easily create a replica of this eyeball and test-fit it on the statue, allowing for precise restoration.”

Repositioning is a critical research initiative for recovering lost artifacts from the grottoes. Zhao expressed hope that the Yungang Grottoes Protection Foundation could secure support for a special project: digitally scanning all eye cavities in Yungang to record their diameter, depth, and shape, while analyzing the composition and dating of surviving ceramic eyes. This database would allow newly discovered eyeballs to be quickly matched to their original statues.

“Repositioning is the most convincing method of verification,” Zhao emphasized. “Beyond that, if advanced imaging technology could reveal the embedded shape of the eyeballs – whether conical, mushroom-shaped, or otherwise – it would resolve all disputes at once.”

Today, repatriated Yungang artifacts are displayed at the National Museum of China, the Shanxi Museum, and the Yungang Grottoes Museum. Zhao believes that while the grottoes themselves are immovable world heritage, the return of individual statues allows the public to appreciate Yungang’s artistry in museums nationwide. These objects also help to tell the story of cultural displacement and recovery, enriching our understanding of Yungang’s history.

So far, no repatriated components have been physically reattached to their original niches – a standard practice, as most returned artifacts remain in museum collections. Reinstalling stone fragments requires careful study to assess technical feasibility and potential risks to existing structures. As Zhao concluded, “Every step must be taken with both reverence and scientific rigor.”

Well, that’s the end of our podcast. Our theme music is by the famous film score composer Roc Chen. We want to thank our writer Ni Wei, translator Wang Yuyan, and copy editor Pu Ren. And thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please tell a friend so they, too, can understand The Context.