AN IMPORTANT AND VERY RARE STONE BUDDHIST STELE - photo 1

AN IMPORTANT AND VERY RARE STONE BUDDHIST STELE

Lot 733
25.03.2022 10:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
$ 781 200
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 718540
Lot 733 | AN IMPORTANT AND VERY RARE STONE BUDDHIST STELE
Estimate value
$ 200 000 – 300 000
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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Medium:Stone
Place of origin:China, Eastern Asia, Asia
Auction house category:All other types of objects
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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