Page 17 - Nitta Neitreya Buddha Christies Hong Kong May 2018

fig. 3 A four-sided stone Buddhist stele (back), Sui Dynasty (581-610 C.E.)
Fujita Museum collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 15 March 2017, lot 531
圖三 隋 彩繪砂岩雕四面造像碑 ( 背面 )
藤田美術館舊藏 紐約佳士得 2017 年 3 月 15 日 拍品 531 號

At the time it was created, either a gilt bronze halo or a gilt-bronze 背光，蓮瓣形的光環象徵佛體煥發的身
mandorla 背光 would have appeared behind this sculpture, the lotus- 光，以示其神聖地位。（頭光是指神祇頭
petal-shaped aureole 光環 suggesting light radiating from the Buddha’s 後的圓形或盤狀光輪，以全身為背景的光
body and thus signaling his divine status. (Symbolizing divinity, a halo
is a circle, or disc, of light that appears behind the head of a deity; a 輪則為背光，兩者皆為神祇標識。）本尊
mandorla is a full-body halo.) The small interruption in the curls of hair 頭後捲髮略有起伏，應是固定頭光或背光
on the back of this sculpture’s head indicates the point where the halo 之處。若非鏤空，光輪中央應刻一朵蓮
or mandorla was secured in place. If not pierced, the aureole would have 花，外緣為火焰，就此可參照華盛頓弗利
been engraved with a lotus blossom at its centre and tongues of flame 爾美術館珍藏（藏品號 F1914.21）；若
around its periphery (compare Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, no. 光輪鏤空，則泰半糅合透雕纏枝花紋，或
F1914.21); if reticulated, the aureole likely incorporated openwork floral 在佛首之後飾一朵正面盛開之蓮花。至於
designs arranged in a scrolling arabesque perhaps with an open lotus
blossom featured en face directly behind the Buddha’s head. The apsaras 上文提到的飛天，一般固定於光輪頂端。
mentioned above would have been attached to the top of the aureole.
在印度馬哈拉施特拉邦的阿旃陀第 26
As evinced by the Gupta-period 笈多古時代 sculpture at the front of the 號石窟內，根據偷婆正面的古普塔時代
stupa 偷婆 within Cave 26 at Ajanta 阿旃陀石窟 , in Maharashtra, India, 雕像（創作於公元 480 年前）（圖四）
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which dates before 480 C.E. (fig. 4), images of Buddhas with legs 看來， 印度早於五世紀前已有製作垂足
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pendant were created in India by the fifth century. Such Indian images 而坐的佛像。五世紀下半葉在中國雲岡出
likely were the inspiration for the Chinese sculptures of the Buddha
Maitreya seated with legs pendant that had appeared at Yungang by the 現的善跏趺坐彌勒佛像，很可能也曾師法
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second half of the fifth century. 14 這類印度造像。

Large-scale, even monumental, sculptures of Maitreya as a Buddha were 隋代（公元 581 至 618 年）多個佛教石
created at several Buddhist cave temple sites during the Sui dynasty 窟皆有創作大型甚或巨型彌勒佛像，最突
(581–618 C.E.), particularly at Maijishan 麥積山石窟 (in Gansu province), 出者莫如甘肅的麥積山石窟，而唐代（公
and many more during the Tang dynasty (618–907 C.E.), including at
Longmen and Tianlongshan 天 龍 山 石 窟 (in Shanxi province). Of these 元 618 至 907 年）情況更甚，如山西的
sculptures, the one closest in style and general appearance to the present 龍門和天龍山石窟。該批雕像之中，又以
gilt bronze sculpture is that in Cave 5 at Maijishan; though not dated by 麥積山第 5 窟的作品，在風格與整體外
inscription and variously attributed to the Sui and Tang dynasties, the 觀上最接近本尊鎏金銅像；該像的銘文無

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