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Lot Essay
Vimalakirti, also known as Wei Mo Jie, is the central figure of the Vimalakirti Sutra, a popular Mahayana Buddhist scripture, primarily teaching the concept of 'nondualism', meaning to reach the realm of absoluteness by transcending the relative dualism in life. Vimalakirti demonstrated outstanding wisdom and deep enlightenment through his debates with a host of disciples and bodhisattvas, which ultimately charmed the cultivated Chinese aristocratic literati. The sutra consequently received growing favour, resulting in the emergence of an artistic repertory of Vimalakirti in the form of paintings, wall murals and stone sculptures. He was often shown leaning on one side to suggest the illness that initiates the drama of the sutra. With the pronounced facial features, cascading garment and the dark-greyish coloured limestone, this figure is carved in the style of Northern Wei (386-534) stone sculptures in the Longmen cave temples located south of Luoyang in Henan province. Its compact size suggests that he was likely part of an elaborate votive pantheon or stele, possibly depicting the popular religious debate with Manjushri, the 'Bodhisattva of Wisdom', along with various disciples and deities witnessing the illuminating conversations.
Compare depictions of Vimalakirti in the Yungang grottoes, particularly a carving of the debate found in Cave no. 6 and illustrated in Seiichi Mizuno, Yun-Kang: The Buddhist Cave-Temples of the Fifth Century A.D. in North China, Kyoto, 1951-56, vol III, pl. 31. Vimalakirti's foreign origins are still quite visible in this rendition. He wears a Phrygian cap, tall boots, and the upwardly peaked fan is still of deer tail, unlike the feathered versions more familiar to Chinese artisans. Even within the Yungang grottoes, the evolution and sinification of Vimalakirti can be detected, and by the sixth century, several elements including the fan and the figure's wardrobe abandon their western heritage. By the Tang dynasty, illustrations of the debate developed further and painted representations of the sutra began to outnumber stone carvings.
The Longman caves also include figures carved in a similar style, such as three bodhisattvas seated in a pensive pose, illustrated in Zhongguo meishi quanji: Diaosu bian. [Complete series on Chinese art: Sculpture section], 11: Longmen shiku diaoke [Sculptures of the Longmen caves], Shanghai, 1988, pls 53-5. See also other stone representations of Vimalakirti, along with other standing disciples and angel-like female figures hovering mid-air, illustrated in Longmen Shiku, Beijing, 1980, pl. 112, and Li Wensheng ed., Longmen shiku zhuangshi diaoke, Shanghai, 1991, pl. 139.
Compare depictions of Vimalakirti in the Yungang grottoes, particularly a carving of the debate found in Cave no. 6 and illustrated in Seiichi Mizuno, Yun-Kang: The Buddhist Cave-Temples of the Fifth Century A.D. in North China, Kyoto, 1951-56, vol III, pl. 31. Vimalakirti's foreign origins are still quite visible in this rendition. He wears a Phrygian cap, tall boots, and the upwardly peaked fan is still of deer tail, unlike the feathered versions more familiar to Chinese artisans. Even within the Yungang grottoes, the evolution and sinification of Vimalakirti can be detected, and by the sixth century, several elements including the fan and the figure's wardrobe abandon their western heritage. By the Tang dynasty, illustrations of the debate developed further and painted representations of the sutra began to outnumber stone carvings.
The Longman caves also include figures carved in a similar style, such as three bodhisattvas seated in a pensive pose, illustrated in Zhongguo meishi quanji: Diaosu bian. [Complete series on Chinese art: Sculpture section], 11: Longmen shiku diaoke [Sculptures of the Longmen caves], Shanghai, 1988, pls 53-5. See also other stone representations of Vimalakirti, along with other standing disciples and angel-like female figures hovering mid-air, illustrated in Longmen Shiku, Beijing, 1980, pl. 112, and Li Wensheng ed., Longmen shiku zhuangshi diaoke, Shanghai, 1991, pl. 139.