Page 168 - 2019 October Important Chinese Art Sotheby's Hong Kong

SPIRITUAL MONUMENTALITY IN

A TURBULENT ERA

This large and impressive sculpture of Shakyamuni Buddha, would have encountered this image in an elaborate stage
imbued with the uttermost spirituality and tranquillity, set with painted murals covering the walls, along with many
provides a window into a golden age of Buddhist history other sculptures of deities and luohan, all brightly coloured
in China, when Buddhism flourished amidst an unstable and gilded.
backdrop of chaos and war under the Jin dynasty (1115- Carved wood Buddhist figures from the Jin dynasty, of which
1234), and a profusion of sculptures was created in wood, this is such a fine example, reveal the deep level of influence
particularly for the pre-eminent centres of religious activity from the artistic style of the Indian Gupta Empire (320-647),
in Taiyuan and Wutaishan. Naturalistic in its sensitive itself imbued with resonances of the Hellenistic tradition.
rendering of the figure, but carved on a grand scale, the Looking at the Buddha, the eye is drawn not only to the form
full-bodied image is conveyed with aristocratic countenance of the figure itself, but also to the graceful folds of the robes,
on the softly delineated face, set in an expression of intense distinctly Hellenistic in their adherence to the contours of
serenity. The treatment of the long flowing robes, picked a realistically conceived body as they flow freely down. The
out in varying levels of relief, produce a dramatic dichotomy treatment of the dynamic muscular body, gentle S-curves
between shadow and highlight, captivating the viewer with an and features such as the exposed chest do not stem from
impression of realism and deep humanity. Preserved in good Han Chinese traditions, where little of the naked body was
condition after nearly a millennium, with traces of its original ever depicted, but pay homage to the external influences
pigments, it is a sublime creation.
that crossed the Silk Road to China during and before the
The depth of support for Buddhism in the Jin dynasty is Tang dynasty. The carvers of the Jin dynasty were not only
evident from the numbers of surviving sutras carved on just inspired by this tradition, but further developed it in
stone tablets, and by the ambitious production of a new their own unique style, as demonstrated by areas such as
official printed edition of the Buddhist canon, completed in the face, where the plumper, more fleshier treatment of the
Shanxi in 1192, as expounded by Tao-chung Yao, ‘Buddhism expression assumed a greater delicacy of articulation, and a
and Taoism under the Chin’, in Hoyt Cleveland Tillman and softness of modelling matching the outlook of the confident,
Stephen H. West (eds), China under Jurchen Rule: Essays culturally sophisticated but politically inept court. It
on Chin Intellectual and Cultural History, New York, 1995, p. epitomises the new humanism imbued in Buddhist sculpture
174. It is also evident from the sheer quality and stature of from the 11th-12th century onwards. The figure is majestic,
the surviving sculptures of the period. Such large wooden yet it also exudes a benign calm and warmth that draw in the
statues, originally with rich painted surfaces, were created viewer, creating an impression of greater approachability
for Buddhist temples in north China under the different and emotional connection.
dynasties that ruled in the 10th-13th centuries. Many Other large scale wood sculptures from the Jin dynasty
temples in northern China were as extensive as palaces, and are known, mostly preserved in museum collections, but
contained a series of courtyards with magnificent buildings of these, the vast majority are images of bodhisattva,
devoted to worship, teaching and monks’ living quarters. particularly of Avalokiteshvara. It is much rarer to find a
The Jurchen rules of the Jin dynasty built on this tradition, sculpture of Shakyamuni Buddha. The only other recorded
gradually adopting Buddhism as the state religion in place example appears to be one sold at Christie’s Hong Kong,
of shamanism, and establishing a rich legacy of temples, 30th/31st October 1994, lot 388, and included in the same
tombs and artefacts. The deeply carved drapery and the landmark exhibition as the current lot – The Splendour of
heavy ornamentation on figures of this size, coupled with the Buddhist Statuaries. Chinese Buddhist Wooden Sculpture
preserved pigments, hint at the original sumptuousness and from Sung and Yuan Dynasties, National Museum of History,
overwhelming visual effect that awaited temple visitors. They
Taipei, 1997, pp. 38-39, and illustrated on the cover.

166 SOTHEBY ’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART