Lot Essay
The inscription translates loosely as follows:
'On the 25th day of the 10th month of the Xinghe third year of the Great Wei Dynasty, a Buddhist mendicant (bhiksha) appeared to the priests and public advising them to make a Guanyin image for all to worship, [that is] from the Imperial family to the general population'
Cf. a similar Eastern Wei figure exhibited at Eskenazi, Ancient Chinese Sculpture, December 1981, Catalogue, fig.2; and a standing white marble figure of this style and period exhibited in Osaka, Chinese Art Exhibition, Art of the Six Dynasties, fig. no. (3-90) dated Wuding third year, corresponding to AD 545
A related white marble figure of Maitreya inscribed and dated AD 541 is illustrated by Wan-go Weng and Yang Boda, Treasures of the Forbidden City, pl. 132 together with a figure of Sakyamuni seated in meditation from the site of Xiude Temple in Quyang, Hebei Province, inscribed and dated AD 540, pl. 131
'On the 25th day of the 10th month of the Xinghe third year of the Great Wei Dynasty, a Buddhist mendicant (bhiksha) appeared to the priests and public advising them to make a Guanyin image for all to worship, [that is] from the Imperial family to the general population'
Cf. a similar Eastern Wei figure exhibited at Eskenazi, Ancient Chinese Sculpture, December 1981, Catalogue, fig.2; and a standing white marble figure of this style and period exhibited in Osaka, Chinese Art Exhibition, Art of the Six Dynasties, fig. no. (3-90) dated Wuding third year, corresponding to AD 545
A related white marble figure of Maitreya inscribed and dated AD 541 is illustrated by Wan-go Weng and Yang Boda, Treasures of the Forbidden City, pl. 132 together with a figure of Sakyamuni seated in meditation from the site of Xiude Temple in Quyang, Hebei Province, inscribed and dated AD 540, pl. 131