Page 127 - Christies Fine Chinese Works of Art March 2016 New York

Only occasionally encountered among Chinese Buddhist sculptures, white
marble frst rose to popularity during the Northern Qi period, when sculptors
occasionally carved Buddhist images in beautiful white marble from
Dingzhou, in southwest Hebei province. Although a quarry site can never
be taken the probable site at which a particular image was sculpted, the
use of white marble nevertheless suggests that this extraordinary sculpture
might have been carved in the vicinity of Dingzhou, likely in Hebei or Shanxi
province.
Traces of polychromy, evident on the double-lotus pedestal, suggest that
the sculpture was once entirely painted, as were virtually all early Indian and
Chinese Buddhist sculptures in wood and stone; the brilliant pigments of the
sculptures and wall paintings at Dunhuang, in Gansu province, suggest that
the original colors of this Buddha would have been stunning.
Robert D. Mowry
Alan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art Emeritus,
Harvard Art Museums, and Senior Consultant, Christie’s

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