Page 12 - CHRISTIE'S Buddhist Art Japanese Collections 09/14/17
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This fgure belongs to a group of small gilt-bronze sculptures of Shakyamuni the fgure in the collection of the Kuboso Memorial Museum of Art, Japan,
Buddha made for personal use during the fourth to ffth centuries in China, illustrated on p. 386, being the most similar to the current fgure. See, also,
and point to the direct spread of Buddhism from India into China. This can another of this group sold at Christie’s New York, 20 March 2014, lot 1601.
be seen in the retention of stylistic infuences of early Indian representations (Fig. 1) Others, also with variations, are illustrated by Saburo Matsubara in
of Buddha, such as the pose, and the type of garment with parallel folds. A Chugoku Bukkyo chokokushi shiron, vol. 1, Early Six Dynasties, Tokyo, 1995,
number of these, with variations in the depiction of the hair and the lion base, pls. 9-14 and pl. 15d. Several of these can be seen to retain an original
are illustrated by Jin Shen in Hai wai ji Gong Yai cang li dai fo xiang: zhen pin aureole and nimbus as well as an umbrella. The satiny patina of the surface
ji nian cu jian (Catalogue of Treasures of Buddhist Sculpture in Overseas where the gilding is worn on the current fgure attests to it having been
Collections including Hong Kong and Taiwan), Shanxi, 2007, pp. 386-87, much revered.
Fig. 1 Gilt-bronze fgure of Shakyamuni Buddha, Sixteen
Kingdoms period (AD 304-439), sold at Christie’s New York,
20 March 2014, lot 1601.
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