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拍品專文
Traces of Buddhist influence in literature, archaeological discoveries and visual arts indicate that Buddhism was known in China during the Han dynasty in the second century B.C. The Chinese were now confronted, for the first time, with a foreign system of thought, a dynamic religion promising eternal bliss and salvation that was rather immediate in its appeal. At the beginning of the Christian era Buddhism gradually spread, but the concept of the new religion appears to have been somewhat superficial and associated with ideas concerning immortality relating to established Daoist and Confucian beliefs.
Following the fall of the Han dynasty, China broke up into a number of states that would compete with each other for the next three hundred years. Nonetheless it was an important period for the spread of Buddhism. The imperial families and members of nobility began to adopt this new faith with the result that in due course all echelons of the society embraced it. Their increasing popularity was, as can be understood, accompanied by the rapid expansion of religious activities including the demand for religious sculptures. The influence of Buddhism grew even more under the subsequent Sui dynasty (581-618) that unified these competing states. The religious art during this short period carried on the remnants of the previous traditions and laid the foundation for its maturation in the following Tang dynasty.
Compare with an almost identical head from Sui dynasty kept at the Rietberg Museum, Zurich and published in O. Siren, Chinese Sculptures in the Von der Heydt Collection, Museum Rietberg der Stadt Zurich, 1959, plate 29.
See two large standing figures of Buddha from the same period, illustrated in Hai-wai Yi-chen, 'Chinese Art in Overseas Collections, Buddhist Sculpture (II)', National Palace Museum, Taipei 1990, p.56, pl.52 and the other from the St Louis Art Museum, USA, p.78, pl.74
Following the fall of the Han dynasty, China broke up into a number of states that would compete with each other for the next three hundred years. Nonetheless it was an important period for the spread of Buddhism. The imperial families and members of nobility began to adopt this new faith with the result that in due course all echelons of the society embraced it. Their increasing popularity was, as can be understood, accompanied by the rapid expansion of religious activities including the demand for religious sculptures. The influence of Buddhism grew even more under the subsequent Sui dynasty (581-618) that unified these competing states. The religious art during this short period carried on the remnants of the previous traditions and laid the foundation for its maturation in the following Tang dynasty.
Compare with an almost identical head from Sui dynasty kept at the Rietberg Museum, Zurich and published in O. Siren, Chinese Sculptures in the Von der Heydt Collection, Museum Rietberg der Stadt Zurich, 1959, plate 29.
See two large standing figures of Buddha from the same period, illustrated in Hai-wai Yi-chen, 'Chinese Art in Overseas Collections, Buddhist Sculpture (II)', National Palace Museum, Taipei 1990, p.56, pl.52 and the other from the St Louis Art Museum, USA, p.78, pl.74