Page 26 - jingyatang sculptures march2018

201

AN EXCEPTIONAL AND RARE LIMESTONE RELIEF CARVING
ࡄ
OF AN APSARA
偼

NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY

$ 1,200,000-1,500,000
ⴠ

▝
ⴠ of vertical rectangular form with a slight crescent curvature at the sides, the gray stone carved in multiple levels of
relief with a kneeling apsara shown in three-quarter view and attired in # owing robes, draped in loose overlapping
⊛ sashes and adorned with a wide, cusped pectoral, the spirit’s proper right knee bent to the ground with the thigh
resting upon the calf, the left knee raised in a lunge, the torso turned frontally with the arms brought forward and
䰂 palms pressed in prayer before the chest, the subtly bowed head with a beati" c smile playing across the lips, the
slender almond-shaped eyes beneath an evenly arched brow and framed by pendulous earlobes, below an elaborate
丈 high chignon secured behind a trilobed diadem, all framed by a petal-shaped double-mandorla emanating above
the shoulders, budding lotus stems issuing alongside the mandorla, the lower edge and sides carved with a raised
๖ border, " tted stand (2)
Height 23⅛ in., 58.7 cm
׼

PROVENANCE ҳ⎽
Collection of Tai Jun Tse (J.T. Tai, 1910-1992). ᝡ⒑呸喍1910 1992喎ᩣ㫼
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 29th April 1997, lot 713. 仆⍜㬴ჹ℁1997Ꭱ4ᰵ29ᬒ喑㌕㮌713

EXHIBITED
ᆂ㻪
Fo diao zhi mei. Bei chao fojiao shidiao yishu/
Ȩ҈䰂͸㒻 : ࡄ᱊҈᪆ⴠ䰂㬊㶀ȩ喑స⿸₤ट
The Splendour of Buddhist Statuaries. Buddhist ࢇ➖乕喑झࡄ喑1997Ꭱ喑㌕㮌005
Stone Carvings in the Northern Dynasties, National
Ȩࡰऑ҈䵼 : נ㊞䰂ݨ➦ᆂȩ喑倅䯱ጯ⿸
Museum of History, Taipei, 1997, cat. no. 005. 㒻㶀乕喑倅䯱喑2000Ꭱ喑㌕㮌13
Qian gu fo yan. Chuantong diaoke tezhan/Ancient
Chinese Sculpture II [Thousand ancient Buddhist
ܧ❵
countenances. Special exhibition of classical
Ȩ㝙㠒ᄣⰥ : 䲉䯲യ㫼͚స҈׼㬊㶀ȩ喑
sculpture], Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, झࡄ喑2016Ꭱ喑䴮36 39喑㌕㮌5
Kaohsiung, 2000, cat. no. 13.
LITERATURE
Bore baoxiang Jingyatang cang Zhongguo
foxiang yishu/The Treasures of Chinese Buddhist
Sculptures, Taipei, 2016, pp. 36-39, cat. no. 5.

24 JINGYATANG: TREASURES OF CHINESE BUDDHIST SCULPTURE