CHINA, TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)

Details

A SMALL GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF BUDDHA
CHINA, TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
The figure shown seated in dhyanasana with right hand raised in abhayamudra and left resting on his knee, his robe falling in crisp, draped folds in front, the hair dressed in waves continuing over the ushnisha above a central whorl, with attachment tabs projecting from the back
3 1/8 in. (8 cm.) high, wood stand

Provenance

Christian Humann (d.1981), New York, named the Pan-Asian Collection by 1977.
The Collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, New York, acquired in 1982.

Special notice

This lot is offered without reserve.

Brought to you by

Gemma Sudlow

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Lot Essay

Votive gilt-bronzes of the 'Teaching Buddha', with right hand raised in variants of vitarka mudra, and left hand resting on the knee, became extremely popular from the turn of the eighth century, particularly in depictions seated upon full-blown lotus pedestals, whose petal tips evocatively push up the Buddha's billowing skirts into tiny peaks and swags. Two similar gilt-bronze figures in the collection of the Shanghai Museum are illustrated in S. Matsubara, Chugoku bukkyo chokokushi ron (The Path of Chinese Buddhist Sculpture), vol. 3, Tang, Five Dynasties, Sung and Taoism Sculpture, Tokyo, 1995, pl. 720 A and B. Compare, also, a much larger pair of stone 'Teaching Buddhas,' one dated to the Chang'an reign (AD 701-704) and the other to the Jinglong reign (AD 707-709), both in the collection of the Ruicheng County Museum, Shanxi province, illustrated in R.L. Thorp, Son of Heaven: Imperial Art of China, Seattle, 1988, pp. 108-9.

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