A VERY RARE REPOUSSE GILT-COPPER BUDDHIST VOTIVE PLAQUE

ANOTHER PROPERTY

細節

A VERY RARE REPOUSSE GILT-COPPER BUDDHIST VOTIVE PLAQUE
EARLY TANG DYNASTY, 7TH CENTURY

Of rectangular form, finely worked to depict the Buddhist trinity, the central figure of Sakyamuni seated in dhyanasana, the hand gesture in abhya mudra, atop a double-lotus throne, under an elaborate three-tiered canopy decorated with garlands, the central figure is flanked by a monk disciple on each side, standing together with two Bodhisattvas behind a seated Bodhisattva, the lower register similarly styled with four Bodhisattvas, and two monk disciples, one on either side of lotus sprays divided by a flask, supported by a human figure among two lions, all below flying apsaras, the four peripheral sides framed by a row of raised bosses
7 5/8 in. (19.2 cm.) high, wood casement

拍品專文

The imagery is comparable to paintings from the Dunhuang caves, dated to the early 8th century, such as the silk fragment in the British Museum, London, 1990, included in the exhibition, Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, Chinese Art from the Silk Route, illustrated on the front cover of the Catalogue, and p. 24, no. 1. Similar paintings depicting the Amitabha are known but the appearance of the monk disciples, as on the present plaque, suggests that the main figure is a depiction of Sakyamuni, ibid, p. 23.