NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY (AD 386-534)

The style of the current figure, with its narrow head, sloping eyes, and flame-like folds on the robes, recall the figures of Buddha found at the Yungang Buddhist grottos, which also date to the 5th century. A similar figure in gilt bronze, dated to AD 477 of the Northern Wei period, in the Nitta Collection, was included in the National Palace Museum exhibition, The Crucible of Compassion and Wisdom, Taipei, 1987, p. 154 and cover. See, also, the similar gilt-bronze seated figure of Buddha, dated to the second half of the fifth century, illustrated by L. Sickman, “Monsters and Elegance: Nine Centuries of Chinese Sculpture,” Apollo, March 1973, p. 241, no. 3, and a stylistically similar Buddhist shrine, dated to AD 494 of the Northern Wei Dynasty, pp. 241-42, no. 4.