Page 130 - 2020 Sept Important Chinese Art Sotheby's NYC Asia Week

9/2/2020 Important Chinese Art | Sotheby's

Impo rtant Chinese Art
New York |23 Sep 2020 | 09:00 AM EDT

Lot 585

A BRONZE FIGURE OF BUDDHA , TANG DYNASTY
Estimate: 50,000 - 70,000 USD

A BRONZE FIGURE OF BUDDHA
TANG DYNASTY
唐 銅佛坐像

seated with the legs pendent over the seat, an ushnisha over a crisply cast hairline and facial features, the wide almond shaped
eyes and aquiline nose above fleshy, full lips, the round face framed by pendulous ears, the body with a simple monk's robe
covering both shoulders and partially exposing the chest, concentric pleats falling below to form a symmetrical hem above the
large bare feet, the back with an aperture for a mandorla, modern stand, Japanese wood box (5)

Height 8⅝ in., 21.9 cm

Catalogue Note
The present figure clearly displays the influence of Gandharan sculpture aesthetics on Chinese Buddhist art. The treatment of the
garment drapery, the positioning of the pendent legs, and even the style of the raised hand derives from Western precedents. See
a gray schist Gandharan sculpture of a seated Buddha, with the legs pendent and similar garment drapery, preserved in the British
Museum, London, attributed to the 2nd-3rd century, Kushan, illustrated in Wladimir Zwalf, A Catalogue of the Gandhāra Sculpture
in the British Museum, London, 1996, pl. 30.

Compare a bronze seated figure similar to the present lot, attributed to the Tang period, illustrated in Saburo Matsubara, Chinese
Buddhist Sculpture: A study based on bronze and stone statues other than works from cave temples, Tokyo, 1966, pl. 283a. See as
well a limestone carved figure with similar treatment of the body position and garments, dated the third year of Chang'an
corresponding to 703, illustrated in Arts of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Osaka Municipal Museum, Osaka, 1975, cat. no. 3-32; as

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