TANG DYNASTY (618-907)

Details

A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF BUDDHA
TANG DYNASTY (618-907)
Shown seated on a cloth-draped base with right hand raised in vitarka mudra, the left hand resting on the knee, wearing loosely draped robes over a patterned underrobe, the broad face flanked by large ears, the hair incised with waves surrounding an usnisa
7 1/16 in. (18 cm.) high, wood stand

Provenance

Acquired in the United States in the 1980s.

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Lot Essay

Votive gilt-bronze figures 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. Two closely related gilt-bronze figures in the collection of the Shanghai Museum are illustrated in S. Matsubara, Chuugoku 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 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 by R.L. Thorp, Son of Heaven: Imperial Art of China, Seattle, 1988, pp. 108-9.

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