Page 182 - Christie's Hong Kong November 29, 2022 Fine Chinese Works of Art

PROPERTY OF AN ASIAN COLLECTOR
亞洲私人珍藏
3015

A WHITE MARBLE FIGURE OF A BUDDHA 唐或以後 大理石雕佛坐像
TANG DYNASTY OR LATER 來源:
The Buddha is seated in pralamba-padasana on a low throne, the sides 安思遠舊藏，紐約，入藏於1996年之前
inset with diminutive musicians, his feet supported by two lotus 《The Collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth Part IV: Chinese
blossoms, with his right hand in varada mudra and his left in abhaya Works of Art: Metalwork, Sculpture and Early Ceramics》，紐約
mudra, clad in a diaphanous sanghati with cascading folds, the face 佳士得，2015年3月20日，拍品760號
with serene expression and the hair in tight curls over the ushnisha.
24æ in. (62.9 cm.) high, stand
本尊佛像應為未來佛，也稱彌勒佛，造像為常見的善跏趺坐，身體端坐而雙
HK$1,500,000-2,500,000 US$200,000-320,000 足自然下垂。相比彌勒菩薩的華麗造型，彌勒佛的穿著相對樸素。佛經上寫
到彌勒將於釋迦牟尼說法入滅前先離人世入滅，從兜率天降世成佛，迎來
P R O V E NAN C E : 太平盛世。中國四至八世紀內爭不盡，引人相信彌勒佛即將入世，使他聞名
The Collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, New York, before 1996 遐邇。一尊相似但缺損較多的彌勒佛像藏於法國巴黎賽奴奇亞洲博物館，
Sold at Christie’s New York, The Collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth 見奧斯伍爾德·喜仁龍著《5-14世紀的中國雕塑》，第二冊，1925年，（1998
Part IV: Chinese Works of Art: Metalwork, Sculpture and Early Ceramics, 年版），圖版529A。
20 March 2015, lot 760

The present figure likely represents the Future Buddha, Maitreya, who in
the Chinese context is often represented in the so-called 'Western' pose,
seated on a throne with both feet pendent. In contrast to representations
of Maitreya as a bodhisattva, where he is adorned in princely garb and
jewels, Maitreya Buddha wears simple robes. According to Mahayana
Buddhism, Maitreya will descend from the Tushita Heaven when
Shakyamuni's teachings of the dharma have died out, and eventually
become the Future Buddha, initiating a new era of peace and prosperity.
As a deity, Maitreya was extremely popular in China from the 4th through
8th centuries, when internecine strife in China led many to believe
the time was right for his arrival. For a closely related, though much
weathered, example in the Musée Cernuschi, see O. Sirén, Chinese
Sculpture: From the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, vol. II, 1925, (1998 ed.),
pl. 529 A.

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