Page 248 - Christies March 15 2017 Fujita Museum

With its legs and well-articulated lower edges, the table-like plinth on which the fgures appear is akin
in style to that of the Penn Museum Maitreya. The inscription incised on the front of the Fujita plinth
indicates that Monk Xian Xing had this stele made in 526 for the beneft of all living beings, that they
may attain enlightenment. Although Indian Buddhist steles seldom bear inscriptions, inscribed texts
became an important feature of many Chinese Buddhist steles.

In contrast to the 526 stele, the small, Sui-dynasty stele represents a reinterpretation of the traditional
Han stele, which traditionally was a large, upright, round-topped, rectangular block of stone inscribed
with a funerary, commemorative, or edifying text. In Chinese Buddhist steles of this type, images of
the Buddha and other deities supplant the texts that were the essential feature of Han steles. In such
Buddhist steles, the low relief fgures appear within niches, rather than in high relief before a large,
all-encompassing mandorla, so that the stele surface remains fat and planar, a marked contrast with
Indian-infuenced steles, such as the 526 example. In addition, Buddhist steles of Han-stele type
typically present niches with fgural groupings on both the front and back faces of the stele, the two
narrow side walls often claiming a niche with a fgure set within.

The Historical Buddha Shakyamuni sits in dhyanasana on a rectangular throne at the center of the
niche on the front face of the Fujita Museum’s Sui-dynasty stele. The Buddha holds his right hand
in the abhaya-mudra, his left hand in the varada-mudra, indicating that he is preaching. The circular
halo painted in red on the back wall frames the Buddha’s head and signals his divinity. The Buddha’s
favored disciples, Ananda (阿南達) and Kashyapa (迦葉波), stand immediately to his right and left,
while the bodhisattvas standing at the composition’s outside edges complete the group. Two apsaras
kneel in adoration on a step below the plinth that supports the major fgures, their hands clasped in

THE HISTORICAL BUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI SITS IN
DHYANASANA ON A RECTANGULAR THRONE AT THE
CENTER OF THE NICHE ON THE FRONT FACE OF THE
FUJITA MUSEUM’S SUI-DYNASTY STELE.

the anjali-mudra; a boshanlu-type (博山爐類) censer appears between the two apsaras. Han-stele-type
Buddhist steles typically present the images as if set on a temple altar over which rises a baldachin,
signaled here by the valance with scalloped lower edge and by the tassels which hang down the
vertical support posts at the sides. The apsaras and lotus blossoms at the stele’s top suggest the
heavens above.

The niche on the Sui stele’s back face presents the Bodhisattva Maitreya (彌勒菩薩)—the Buddha of
the Future—seated on a throne with legs pendant; he holds his right hand in the abhaya-mudra, his
left in the varada-mudra, indicating that he is preaching. Like the two bodhisattvas that fank him,
Maitreya wears the robes of an ancient Indian prince; a diadem surrounds the elaborate coifure into
which his hair has been arranged. The fgures’ feet rest on lotus blossoms incised into the stone
beneath the niche. A lotus blossom and stylized lotus leaves appear above the niche’s roof, which
assumes the form of an Indian chaitya arch. Considerable pigment remains on the fgures in this
niche, the pigments including red, blue, green, black, and ochre. The narrow sides of this stele also
boast fgures, a standing Buddha with hands in the abhaya- and varada-mudras on one side, and a
standing bodhisattva on the other side.

In the early sixth century Buddhist monks calculated that roughly 1,000 years had passed since the
Historical Buddha Shakyamuni (c. 563–c. 483 BC) had lived. Realizing that “a millennium” was at
hand, theologians speculated that the era of Shakyamuni might be coming to an end, resulting in
increased worship of the Bodhisattva Maitreya as the Buddha of the Future. Although Maitreya had
been venerated since earliest times in the Mahayana tradition, the thought that the era of Maitreya
might be poised to begin resulted in more frequent representations in the arts of the sixth and
seventh centuries, often in association with the Buddha Shakyamuni, as evinced by this stele.6

246 IMPORTANT CHINESE ART FROM THE FUJITA MUSEUM