EASTERN WEI-NORTHERN ZHOU DYNASTY, MID-6TH CENTURY

The treatment of the figure's robes and scarves, which flare outward in an animated fashion from the sides, is one of the distinctive styles seen during the Northern Wei, Eastern Wei and Western Wei periods. A similar treatment of the robes, with flaring, wing-tipped drapery, can be seen on the figure of a gilt-bronze luohan (14.6 cm. high) in the Fogg Museum, Cambridge, illustrated by H. Munsterberg, Chinese Buddhist Bronzes, Vermont/Tokyo, 1967, frontispiece, where it is dated Northern Wei dynasty. This depiction of the robes and scarves creates an abstract, linear pattern that obscures the body. The current figure is very similar to another bodhisattva which forms the center of a complex votive group in the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrated by Matsubara Saburo in Chugoku Bukkyo Chokokushi ron (The Path of Chinese Buddhist Sculpture), Tokyo, 1995, vol. 1, pl. 296, where it is dated Western Wei (AD 535-556), as it is by Jin Shen in Zhongguo lida; jinian foxiang tudian (Illustrated Chinese Buddha Images through the Ages), Beijing, 1995, p. 216, no. 158. Not only are the robes and scarves similar, but also the shape and features of the face and the crown with trailing ribbons. Other related bronze figures of bodhisattvas with similar treatment of the robes, scarves and crown include the figure sold in Treasures of the Noble Path: Early Buddhist Art from Japanese Collections; Christie's New York, 14 September 2017, lot 812, and the bodhisattva dated by inscription to AD 530, sold at Christie’s New York, 25 March 2022, lot 736.