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Lot Essay
Although most of the inscription is obscured, part of it may be read, 'On the eighth day of the fourth month of the fifteenth year the Buddhist disciple Zhang Linliang (made or had made) (for) his parents...'
This altar is rare in the detail of the casting of the scarves and jewelry, the elaborate flame patterns in its mandorla, and the low relief scene on the reverse. The pair of Buddhas seated in a stupa on the reverse represents Sakyamuni and Prabhutaratna, from the episode in chapter 11 of the Lotus Sutra, "Apparition of the Jeweled Stupa".
Other gilt-bronze altars of the Northern Wei period that have relief scenes on the reverse of the halo are the seated Buddha of 477 AD in the Nitta Collection, Tokyo, The Crucible of Compassion and Wisdom, Taipei, 1987, pl. 58, and the pair of seated Buddhas of 489 AD in the Nezu Museum, Tokyo, illustrated by Mizuno Seiichi, Bronze and Stone Sculpture of China, Tokyo, 1960, pls. 102-5. Compare, also, the altar illustrated in Wenwu 1993:12, pl. 3, figs. 1 and 2, of Northern Wei date, bearing an inscription, 'Yongxi, 3rd year, 4th month, 8th day, in Dongbei village, Zhang Sengzhen had this statue made for his eldest sister's husband'. This altar is similar in style and also is decorated on the reverse, but with a single figure.
This altar is rare in the detail of the casting of the scarves and jewelry, the elaborate flame patterns in its mandorla, and the low relief scene on the reverse. The pair of Buddhas seated in a stupa on the reverse represents Sakyamuni and Prabhutaratna, from the episode in chapter 11 of the Lotus Sutra, "Apparition of the Jeweled Stupa".
Other gilt-bronze altars of the Northern Wei period that have relief scenes on the reverse of the halo are the seated Buddha of 477 AD in the Nitta Collection, Tokyo, The Crucible of Compassion and Wisdom, Taipei, 1987, pl. 58, and the pair of seated Buddhas of 489 AD in the Nezu Museum, Tokyo, illustrated by Mizuno Seiichi, Bronze and Stone Sculpture of China, Tokyo, 1960, pls. 102-5. Compare, also, the altar illustrated in Wenwu 1993:12, pl. 3, figs. 1 and 2, of Northern Wei date, bearing an inscription, 'Yongxi, 3rd year, 4th month, 8th day, in Dongbei village, Zhang Sengzhen had this statue made for his eldest sister's husband'. This altar is similar in style and also is decorated on the reverse, but with a single figure.