LIANG DYNASTY, DATED BY INSCRIPTION TO THE SECOND YEAR OF TAIQING, CORRESPONDING TO AD 548

A similarly depicted figure of Buddha shown surrounded by a petal-shaped aureole can be seen centering a smaller (8.3 cm. high) gilt-bronze triad of slightly earlier, Northern Wei (AD 386-534) date, illustrated in the catalogue for the Museum Yamato Bunkakan, Nara, exhibition, East Asian Gilt Bronze Buddhist Figures, 1999, p. 40, no. 20. This figure was subsequently sold in Treasures of the Noble Path: Early Buddhist Art from Japanese Collections; Christie’s New York, 14 September 2017, lot 802.