TANG DYNASTY

Details

A SMALL GILT-METAL BUDDHIST PLAQUE
TANG DYNASTY
The thin plaque decorated in repoussé with the central figure of Buddha seated in virasana atop a lotus throne and with right hand raised in abhayamudra, surrounded by ten bodhisattvas also seated on lotus thrones, all sheltered by the tiled roof of a pavilion, with two apsaras in flight above and with a censer flanked by two lions in the foreground, with tiny holes for attachment
3 5/8 in. (9.2 cm.) high, wood stand

Lot Essay

Similar images of the Buddha seated under a roofed structure flanked by numerous bodhisattvas can be found in paintings from the Dunhuang caves, dated to the early 8th century, as evidenced by the fragment in the British Museum, illustrated by A. Farrer and R. Whitfield, Caves of the Thousand Buddhas: Chinese Art from the Silk Route, New York, 1990, p. 24, no. 1 and cover. Compare, also, the gilt-bronze plaque in the Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum, Kobe, dated to the Sui dynasty of larger size (15.4 cm. high) with similar imagery, but lacking the canopy, illustrated by S. Mizuno, Bronze and Stone Sculpture of China from the Yin to the T'ang Dynasty, Tokyo, 1960, fig. 123.

See, also, the related gilt-copper plaque sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 29-30 October 2001, lot 507.

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