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Lot Essay
Acquired in July 1991 by the present owner.
The casting of the present bronze figure is of particularly fine quality with extremely well executed details. Compare the drapery cascading in linear form and the flying apsaras with a closely related example from the Musée Guimet, Paris, illustrated by H. Munsterberg, Chinese Buddhist Bronzes, New York, 1988, pl. 8; where the author dates the figure to A.D. 525-530, ibid., p. 28. Cf. also a larger gilt-bronze standing Sakyamuni accompanied by two Bodhisattvas and apsaras, inscribed with a date corresponding to A.D. 524, in the Metropolitan Museum, illustrated in Hai-wai Yi-chen, Chinese Art in Overseas Collections, Buddhist Sculpture II, National Palace Museum, Taibei, 1990, p. 18, no. 15.
The rendering of the garment in dovetails is characteristic of the late Northern Wei period, and can be found in many Buddhist bronze images such as a related gilt-bronze standing Buddha dated to A.D. 520 (29.8 cm. high), included in the exhibition, Gems of Chinese Art from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, The Avery Brundage Collection, Hong Kong, 1983, illustrated in the Catalogue, p. 227, no. 99; and two standing gilt-bronze figures of Maitreya both dated to the early 6th century, in the Freer Gallery, Washington, illustrated by H. Munsterberg, Chinese Buddhist Bronzes, New York, 1988, pls. 21 and 22. This stylistic interpretation also appears on stone sculptures: cf. the limestone Buddhist stele dated to A.D. 533, illustrated ibid., p. 228, no. 100; and a stone stele of Sakyamuni excavated in 1974, in Qi county, Henan province, now in the Henan Provincial Museum, Zhengzhou, included in the exhibition, China, 5000 Years, The Guggenheim Museum, 1998, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 149.
The casting of the present bronze figure is of particularly fine quality with extremely well executed details. Compare the drapery cascading in linear form and the flying apsaras with a closely related example from the Musée Guimet, Paris, illustrated by H. Munsterberg, Chinese Buddhist Bronzes, New York, 1988, pl. 8; where the author dates the figure to A.D. 525-530, ibid., p. 28. Cf. also a larger gilt-bronze standing Sakyamuni accompanied by two Bodhisattvas and apsaras, inscribed with a date corresponding to A.D. 524, in the Metropolitan Museum, illustrated in Hai-wai Yi-chen, Chinese Art in Overseas Collections, Buddhist Sculpture II, National Palace Museum, Taibei, 1990, p. 18, no. 15.
The rendering of the garment in dovetails is characteristic of the late Northern Wei period, and can be found in many Buddhist bronze images such as a related gilt-bronze standing Buddha dated to A.D. 520 (29.8 cm. high), included in the exhibition, Gems of Chinese Art from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, The Avery Brundage Collection, Hong Kong, 1983, illustrated in the Catalogue, p. 227, no. 99; and two standing gilt-bronze figures of Maitreya both dated to the early 6th century, in the Freer Gallery, Washington, illustrated by H. Munsterberg, Chinese Buddhist Bronzes, New York, 1988, pls. 21 and 22. This stylistic interpretation also appears on stone sculptures: cf. the limestone Buddhist stele dated to A.D. 533, illustrated ibid., p. 228, no. 100; and a stone stele of Sakyamuni excavated in 1974, in Qi county, Henan province, now in the Henan Provincial Museum, Zhengzhou, included in the exhibition, China, 5000 Years, The Guggenheim Museum, 1998, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 149.