Lot Essay
There is a short inscription to one side of this stele; although most of the characters are illegible, the character jiang is evident. If this inscription is original, this could be read in two ways:
i) Offered by a family on the occasion of the father's death. Signed the 3rd year of the Jian era (De) = 575 A.D.; or ii) Offered by a family on the occasion of the father's death. Signed the 3rd year of the Jian era (Zhong) = 783 A.D.
Compare the similar stele in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, illustrated in Chinese Art in Western Collections, Tokyo 1972, vol.3, pl.39; and another illustrated by R.-Y. Lefebvre d'Argencé, Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage Collection, Tokyo, 1974, pls. 69 and 57.
i) Offered by a family on the occasion of the father's death. Signed the 3rd year of the Jian era (De) = 575 A.D.; or ii) Offered by a family on the occasion of the father's death. Signed the 3rd year of the Jian era (Zhong) = 783 A.D.
Compare the similar stele in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, illustrated in Chinese Art in Western Collections, Tokyo 1972, vol.3, pl.39; and another illustrated by R.-Y. Lefebvre d'Argencé, Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage Collection, Tokyo, 1974, pls. 69 and 57.