LARGE BUDDHIST TAPERING RECTANGULAR GRAY STONE VOTIVE BLOCK

Details

LARGE BUDDHIST TAPERING RECTANGULAR GRAY STONE VOTIVE BLOCK
SUI DYNASTY

Carved on three sides with a large niche framing a central figure of Buddha flanked by attendant figures, each, niche above a panel carved with lions flanking either a lotus or a crouching figure supporting a bud-form censer, with other smaller niches containing figures also carved on these sides, the fourth side carved with two niches, one above the other, each with similar Buddhist groupings, the majority of the worn faces re-cut to highlight the facial details
31in. (79cm.) high

Lot Essay

Compare with another rectangular block illustrated by Saburo Matsubara, Chuugoku Bukkyo Chokokushi Ron (The Path Of Chinese Buddhist Sculpture), vol. 2, Late Six Dynasties and Sui, Tokyo, 1995, pl. 544. See, also, a slightly earlier Northern Qi example, formed from three tapering rectangular blocks, in the Gansu Provincial Museum, also illustrated by Matsubara, op. cit., vol. 2, pl. 360