AN IMPORTANT AND VERY RARE STONE BUDDHIST STELE - photo 1

AN IMPORTANT AND VERY RARE STONE BUDDHIST STELE

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$ 781 200
Auction dateClassic
25.03.2022 10:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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ID 718540
Lot 733 | AN IMPORTANT AND VERY RARE STONE BUDDHIST STELE
AN IMPORTANT AND VERY RARE STONE BUDDHIST STELE

NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY (AD 386-534), DATED BY INSCRIPTION TO AD 457

The Buddha is shown seated in dhyanasana with hands held in dhyanamudra, wearing robes that fall in heavy folds, and his sensitively carved face bears a contemplative expression, beneath the hair and usnisha carved with a chevron-like whorl pattern. The figure is flanked by two smaller acolytes and backed by a tall aurole carved with bands decorated with acolytes and diminutive Buddhas. The reverse is carved with the birth, bath, and first seven steps of the Buddha, above a dedicatory inscription, followed by a date, corresponding to AD 457.

16 1⁄8 in. (41 cm.) high, softwood stand







Provenance

Mizuno Tsurunosuke Collection, Osaka, early twentieth century.

Dan Takuma (1858-1932) Collection, Japan.

Important private Japanese collection, prior to 1994, and thence by descent within the family.





Literature

Osvald Sirén, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, vol. 1, London, 1925, pl. 116-7.

Osvald Sirén, Histoire des arts anciens de la Chine III La Sculpture, Paris, 1930, pl. 47 C & D.

Osvald Sirén, Chinese Art, London, 1935, pl. 18 B & C.

Stone Buddha, Osaka City Museum, Osaka, 1953, no. 1.

Bijutsu Card 14, Bijutsu Shuppansha, Tokyo, 1954, no. 928.

Suzuki Kei and Matsubara Saburo eds., Summary of Asian Art history – vol.2, Tokyo, 1957, no.37.

Takashimaya Department Store at Nihonbashi, Chinese Ancient Sculpture, 1959, no. A.

Mizuno Seiichi, Bronze and Stone Sculpture of China, Tokyo, 1960, nos. 36-37.

Matsubara Saburo, Research on the History of Chinese Buddhist Sculpture, Tokyo, 1961, fig. 5 and nos.12-13.

Sekai Bijutsu Zenshu 14 - China- Six dynasties, Tokyo, 1963, no. 48.

Kobijutsu 10, Sansaisha, Tokyo, 1965, p. 24.

Osaka City museum, Chinese Art 5000 Years, Osaka, 1966, no. 2-12.

Ancient Chinese Art - The Origin of Japanese Art, Kagawa, 1968, F18.

Mizuno Seiichi, Chinese Buddhist Art, Tokyo, 1968, nos. 31-32.

Nagahiro Toshio ed., Asiatic Art in Japanese Collections, vol. 3, Sculpture, 1968, no. 23.

Tokyo National Museum, Oriental Art - Asian Gallery Opening Memorial Exhibition, Tokyo, 1969, no. 57.

Yamato Bunka 51, Yamato Bunkakan, Nara, 1969, no.1.

Matsubara Saburo ed., Complete History of Asian Art, Tokyo, 1972, no. 216.

Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, Chinese Art from Six Dynasties, Osaka, 1975, no. 3-65.

Tanaka Yoshiyasu ed., Nihon no Bijutsu 8 – No.159, Birth of Buddha, 1979, no. 26.

Matsubara Saburo, Chinese Art - Sculpture, Tokyo, 1982, p. 132.

Osaka City Museum, Chinese Buddhist Sculptures, Osaka, 1984, no. 10, p. 28.

Tokyo National Museum, Museum 432, Tokyo, 1987.

Jin Shen in Hai wai ji Gong Yai cang li dai fo xiang: zhen pin ji nian tu jian (Catalogue of Treasures of Buddhist Sculpture in Overseas Collections including Hong Kong and Taiwan), Shanxi, 2007, p. 6.





Exhibited

Tokyo, Takashimaya Department Store at Nihonbashi, Chinese Ancient Sculpture, 28 Apr – 10 May 1959.

Osaka, Osaka City Museum, Chinese Art 5000 Years, 15 October – 23 November 1966.

Kagawa Prefecture, Kagawa Prefectural Cultural Hall, Ancient Chinese Art - The Origin of Japanese Art, 1968.

Tokyo, Tokyo National Museum, Oriental Art - Asian Gallery Opening Memorial Exhibition, 1969.

Osaka, Osaka City Museum, Chinese Art from Six Dynasties, 10 October - 9 November, 1975.

Osaka, Osaka City Museum, Chinese Buddhist Sculptures, 6 October -11 November, 1984.





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Please note that this lot is subject to an import tariff. The amount of the import tariff due is a percentage of the final hammer price plus buyer’s premium. The buyer should contact Post Sale Services prior to the sale to determine the estimated amount of the import tariff. If the buyer instructs Christie’s to arrange shipping of the lot to a foreign address, the buyer will not be required to pay the import tariff. If the buyer instructs Christie’s to arrange shipping of the lot to a domestic address, if the buyer collects the property in person, or if the buyer arranges their own shipping (whether domestically or internationally), the buyer will be required to pay the import tariff. For the purpose of calculating sales tax, if applicable, the import tariff will be added to the final hammer price plus buyer’s premium and sales tax will be collected as per The Buyer’s Premium and Taxes section of the Conditions of Sale.
Medium:Stone
Place of origin:China, Eastern Asia, Asia
Auction house category:All other types of objects
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