INSCRIBED WITH A DATE CORRESPONDING TO 508, NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY

細節

A VERY RARE DATED GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF THE SEATED BUDDHA
INSCRIBED WITH A DATE CORRESPONDING TO 508, NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY
Shown seated in varisana atop a square plinth, with hands in varamudra, wearing crisply cast robes falling in parallel folds around the body and in a cascade of folds in front, with long face and nose of triangular section, the curls of the hair indicated by a checkered pattern which continues onto the rounded usnisa, the hollow-cast body with a rectangular aperture in back above the remains of an angular attachment loop, with a small rectangular slit on the sides of the bottom of the base and an inscription incised on the back; together with a flame-form gilt-bronze mandorla cast in low relief with seven Buddhas seated around a central lotus blossom above a rectangular aperture flanked by foliate scroll, all surrounded by flames in the outer field
Buddha 8¼ in. (21 cm.) high; mandorla 7¾ in. (19.7 cm.) high (2)

出版

Zhongguo lidai jinian foxiang tudian (Illustrated Chinese Buddha Images Through the Ages), Beijing, 1995, p. 299, no. 219.

拍品專文

Most of the inscription appearing on the back of the square plinth on which the present figure sits is indecipherable. However, the first four characters appear to be, yong ping wu yuan, which may be translated, '1st year of Yongping'. Yongping is the name of a reign period used by several Chinese rulers. It is possible that the reign period in question might be that of Xuan Wudi, of the Northern Wei dynasty which began in AD 508. Some of the other characters appear to be zao shi jia..., which may be translated, 'made [an image of] Shijia (i.e. Sakyamuni Buddha]'.

This distinctive treatment of the drapery that cascades over the dais in a symmetrical, wave-like pattern can be found on other central Buddha figures in stone steles of Northern Wei date, such as the example from Xi'an, Shaanxi, illustrated by Y. Sugimura, Chinese Sculpture, Bronzes, and Jades in Japanese Collections, Tokyo, 1966, no. 4, and the stele illustrated by S. Matsubara, Chuugoku bukkyo chokokushi ron (The Path of Chinese Buddhist Sculpture), vol. 1, Early Six Dynasties, Tokyo, 1955, no. 179.

See, also, the stone stele that, like the present lot, is dated by inscription to 508, where the central figure of Buddha exhibits a similar squareness to the head and similar angular facial features.