Page 132 - 2020 Sept Important Chinese Art Sotheby's NYC Asia Week
P. 132
9/2/2020 Important Chinese Art | Sotheby's
Impo rtant Chinese Art
New York |23 Sep 2020 | 09:00 AM EDT
Lot 586
A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF SEATED MAITREYA , NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY
Estimate: 12,000 - 15,000 USD
A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF SEATED MAITREYA
NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY
北魏 銅鎏金彌勒佛坐像
the Buddha of the Future seated with the hands held in abhaya and varada mudra, the smiling face and topknot backed by an
integral circular mandorla of incised flames radiating from a central flower, all raised on an integral rectangular base, modern
stand, Japanese wood box (5)
Height 2⅝ in., 6.6 cm
Catalogue Note
Circular mandorla are not commonly seen in surviving Northern Wei bronze sculpture, and are more commonly seen in stone
sculpture of the Northern dynasties. Another example of a bronze figure of Maitreya with an integral circular mandorla, also with
incised flames, attributed to the Northern Wei period, is illustrated in Gilt-bronze Buddhas of the Six Dynasties Period, Kuboso
Memorial Museum of Art, Izumi, 1991, cat. no. 87.
https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/important-chinese-art?locale=en 132/435
