TANG DYNASTY (618-907)

Details

A SMALL GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF MAITREYA BUDDHA
TANG DYNASTY (618-907)
Shown seated with legs pendent and with right hand raised in abhayamudra while the left hand rests atop the knee, wearing loose robes falling in crisply cast folds and incised with a wave band border across the chest, the head framed by a foliated openwork nimbus attached in back, and the figure slotted into a separate plaque raised on a stepped hexagonal base with pierced sides
6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm.) high, stand

Exhibited

London, Eskenazi, Tang, 9 June - 3 July 1987, no. 20.

Lot Essay

A similar gilt-bronze figure of Maitreya Buddha seated in this posture can be found serving as the central figure on an elaborate votive shrine dated to the seventh century in The Avery Brundage Collection, included in the exhibition, Gems of Chinese Art from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 17th May - 7th August 1983, p. 237, no. 104. Another gilt-bronze shrine with a similar figure of Maitreya Buddha was acquired by the Palace Museum, Beijing, in 1957 and is illustrated in 50 Selected Gems of Cultural Relics, Beijing, 1999, no. 107.

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