Lot 184
184
A RARE DATED GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF A BODHISATTVA
BUDDHIST SCULPTURE THE PROPERTY OF A CALIFORNIA COLLECTOR
A RARE DATED GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF A BODHISATTVA

NORTHERN QI DYNASTY, INSCRIBED FIFTH YEAR OF WUPING, CORRESPONDING TO AD 574, AND OF THE PERIOD

Details
A RARE DATED GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF A BODHISATTVA
NORTHERN QI DYNASTY, INSCRIBED FIFTH YEAR OF WUPING, CORRESPONDING TO AD 574, AND OF THE PERIOD
The figure well cast standing on a domed socle on an intergral four-legged stand incised with the dated inscription, with hands in abhaya and varada mudras, wearing a beaded necklace, a shawl that flares outwards and layered robes that also flare in graceful folds either side of the bare feet, the head surmounted by a lotus-petal crown hung with pendent ribbons and backed by a petal-cast nimbus surrounded by the flame-form mandorla
7 1/8 in. (18.1 cm.) high, wood stand, fitted wood box
Provenance
Acquired in December 1993.
Christie's, New York, 21 March 2002, lot 83.
Literature
Zhongguo Lidai Jinian Foxiang Tudian (Illustrated Chinese Buddha Images Through the Ages), Beijing, 1995, p. 306, no. 225.

Lot Essay

The dedicatory inscription dated to Wuping fifth year (AD 574), fifth month, twenty-ninth day, also bears the name of the maker, Liang Taihe.
Compare the similar but smaller (14 cm. high) gilt-bronze votive figure of a bodhisattva dated Eastern Wei from the Nitta Group Collection included in the exhibition, The Crucible of Compassion and Wisdom, The National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1987, p. 162, pl. 65.

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