Lot Essay
Lokapala, usually called in Chinese tianwang, or "heavenly kings", were guardians of the universe and protectors of the Buddhist doctrine. Dressed in elaborate military attire, they are frequently depicted in pairs or groups of four. In the latter case, one figure was associated with each of the four cardinal directions.
These guardians became expecially popular in the Tang period when they were made in large numbers as tomb guardians, as well as attendants of main Buddha images in temples. They themselves came to be popular cult images. In Tang temples they can be seen installed in a separate worship hall, usually near the entrance or in another popular configuration as the outermost attendant figures in groups of seven featuring a central Buddha, a pair of arhats and a pair of Bodhisattvas flanked by lokapalas.
Lokapalas are depicted in various styles, differentiated by distinctive headdresses differentating them. One group is portrayed with helmet like headdresses as on the present group, also found in sancai pottery examples. Cf. an example excavated at Dunhaung, illustrated in Zhongguo Tiaoshu Shi Tulu, vol. 3, pl. 1117; another group is depicted with a tall plume-like finial crowning the helmet, ibid, pl. 1116; the third group is portrayed with hair dressed in topknots, cf. a stucco example from cave 319, Mogao caves, Dunhuang, illustrated ibid., pl. 1224.
Very few extant examples of Lokapalas from Tianlongshan have been published. But in style and texture of the stone, the present pair correspond very closely to a number of published pieces from this site; cf. various examples illustrated by Vanderstappen and Rhie, "The sculpture of Tianlongshan: Reconstructions and Dating", Artibus Asiae, vol. XVII, 3 (1965), pp. 189-220. The relative sizes of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas also indicate how the present lot fit into a group in the Tianlongshan scheme. Compare a seated Buddha from cave 4, measuring 87cm. illustrated in Zhongguo Tiaoshu Shi Tulu, vol. 3, pl. 1309, and a seated Buddha in the Fogg Museum of Art, ibid., pl. 1314 measuring 1-08cm. high. Another much smaller example from the J.T. Tai collection (66cm. high) sold in New York, 3 June 1985, lot 8. The size of the present pair indicate that they probably flanked a Buddha and a pair of Bodhisattvas measuring 80-100cm. in height.
Cf. another Tang figure of a lokapala Binglingsi, Guangsu province, illustrated by Akiyama and Matsubara, Arts of China, Buddhist Cave Temples, New Researches, pl. 81; a varity of styles of such figures are well represented at the Longman caves, cf. Lost Statues of Longmen Cave, pl. 94 for a figure now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the appendix, pl. 42 and 45 for two other figures. Compare also to another pair of stone Lokapala from the Longmen cave, previously in the collection of Stephen Junkunc, III, included in our New York Sale, 21 September 1995, lot 303.
These guardians became expecially popular in the Tang period when they were made in large numbers as tomb guardians, as well as attendants of main Buddha images in temples. They themselves came to be popular cult images. In Tang temples they can be seen installed in a separate worship hall, usually near the entrance or in another popular configuration as the outermost attendant figures in groups of seven featuring a central Buddha, a pair of arhats and a pair of Bodhisattvas flanked by lokapalas.
Lokapalas are depicted in various styles, differentiated by distinctive headdresses differentating them. One group is portrayed with helmet like headdresses as on the present group, also found in sancai pottery examples. Cf. an example excavated at Dunhaung, illustrated in Zhongguo Tiaoshu Shi Tulu, vol. 3, pl. 1117; another group is depicted with a tall plume-like finial crowning the helmet, ibid, pl. 1116; the third group is portrayed with hair dressed in topknots, cf. a stucco example from cave 319, Mogao caves, Dunhuang, illustrated ibid., pl. 1224.
Very few extant examples of Lokapalas from Tianlongshan have been published. But in style and texture of the stone, the present pair correspond very closely to a number of published pieces from this site; cf. various examples illustrated by Vanderstappen and Rhie, "The sculpture of Tianlongshan: Reconstructions and Dating", Artibus Asiae, vol. XVII, 3 (1965), pp. 189-220. The relative sizes of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas also indicate how the present lot fit into a group in the Tianlongshan scheme. Compare a seated Buddha from cave 4, measuring 87cm. illustrated in Zhongguo Tiaoshu Shi Tulu, vol. 3, pl. 1309, and a seated Buddha in the Fogg Museum of Art, ibid., pl. 1314 measuring 1-08cm. high. Another much smaller example from the J.T. Tai collection (66cm. high) sold in New York, 3 June 1985, lot 8. The size of the present pair indicate that they probably flanked a Buddha and a pair of Bodhisattvas measuring 80-100cm. in height.
Cf. another Tang figure of a lokapala Binglingsi, Guangsu province, illustrated by Akiyama and Matsubara, Arts of China, Buddhist Cave Temples, New Researches, pl. 81; a varity of styles of such figures are well represented at the Longman caves, cf. Lost Statues of Longmen Cave, pl. 94 for a figure now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the appendix, pl. 42 and 45 for two other figures. Compare also to another pair of stone Lokapala from the Longmen cave, previously in the collection of Stephen Junkunc, III, included in our New York Sale, 21 September 1995, lot 303.