Page 77 - SOTHEBYS MARCH 18 AND 19 2025

This extraordinary figure depicts the historical Buddha,
developed into a more distinctive native style. With sinicized
Shakyamuni, seated in dhyanasana on an elaborate facial features and delicate treatment of the Buddha’s hand
hexagonal base and double lotus ring. His meditative grasping his robe, which ruffles and flows below his seat,
expression, serene yet regal, captures the very essence of the present figure is an exceptional example of this artistic
the Buddha: disconnected and enlightened yet grounded zenith. However, unlike the more florid decorative imagery of
and princely. With his robe covering both shoulders, draped the ensuing Tang dynasty, these figures also remain somber
over his left arm, resting on his knee, this delicately cast and mystical in nature; emanating a seriousness of belief still
figure blends the serene naturalism of the late Northern rooted in the political instability of the mid-6th century.
dynasties with the grandeur and voluptuous forms more
typical of the ensuing Tang. It is particularly rare to find figures of this type depicted
atop hexagonal-waisted pedestals, which seem to have
Overthrowing the Xianbei state of the Eastern Wei in 550 first emerged in the Northern Zhou (557-581). Compare
CE, the Northern Qi dynasty soon rose to become one of the a very similar depiction of hexagonal pedestals in Sui
most vibrant periods in the history of Chinese art. Producing dynasty wall paintings found in the famous Mogao Caves
masterpieces in both religious and secular art, the court’s of Dunhuang, caves 244, 393, 394 and 419; and a number
openness to foreigners and their beliefs, goods and aesthetic of contemporaneous marble figures on closely related
traditions immensely enriched the local cultural climate, pedestals, including the Fang Xuanling Pedestal (dated
which in turn led to a golden age of Buddhist sculpture. While corresponding to 647) in the Cleveland Museum of Art,
in the Northern and Eastern Wei, the Buddhist artistic canon in Osvald Sirén, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the
remained dominated by South and Central Asian prototypes, Fourteenth Century, vol. III, New York, 1925, pls 405-408.
by the Northern Qi these aesthetics had matured and
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