Page 252 - Christies March 15 2017 Fujita Museum

THE MOST DRAMATIC
FEATURE OF THE DECORATIVE
SCHEME IS THE CANOPY
OF A LARGE BODHI TREE
(PUTISHU 菩提樹), OR TREE
OF KNOWLEDGE, WHICH
DOMINATES THE UPPER HALF
OF THE STELE’S BACK FACE.

The Bodhisattva Maitreya appears in the niche on the stele’s back face;
dressed in monk’s robes, he is presented as the Buddha he will become.
He sits on a lotus throne with legs pendant, and he holds his hands in the
abhaya- and varada-mudras, or gestures of preaching. Maitreya appears in
a temple hall, a vertical post on either side supporting the gently curved,
gabled roof. Favored disciples Ananda and Kashyapa appear immediately
to Maitreya’s right and left, within the temple-hall enclosure, while a
bodhisattva, standing on a lotus blossom, appears on either side, under the
eaves and just outside the enclosure. A recumbent lion rests before the
base of each vertical post; they face inward and look toward the alms bowl
that contains an ofering for Maitreya. The most dramatic feature of the
decorative scheme is the canopy of a large Bodhi Tree (Putishu 菩提樹), or
Tree of Knowledge, which dominates the upper half of the stele’s back face.
Each of the stele’s narrow sides claims three vertically set niches in which
appears a meditating Buddha. The columns of text alongside the niches
identify the particular Buddhas represented within, many of them being
Buddhas associated with Esoteric Buddhism (Mijiao 密教).

In both style and iconography, this stele relates closely to a Maitreya Stele
that dates to 687 and is now in the collection of the Asian Art Museum,
San Francisco (B60S36+). The fgures display the full, round faces typically
associated with Tang sculpture, and their drapery clings tightly, revealing
not only the presence but the structure of the bodies it cloaks. More than
anything else, the emphasis on naturalized depiction characterizes Tang
sculpture, as witnessed by this stele.

These three rare steles well illustrate the variety of Chinese Buddhist stele
types, just as they also demonstrate the increasing complexity of Buddhist
iconography over time and the evolution of styles from the formalized
images of the Northern Wei to the naturalistic depictions of the Tang.

Robert D. Mowry 毛瑞

Alan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art Emeritus,
Harvard Art Museums, and
Senior Consultant, Christie’s

250 IMPORTANT CHINESE ART FROM THE FUJITA MUSEUM