Page 61 - J.J. Lally Chinese Art CHRISTIE'S March 23 2023 NYC

820 AN INSCRIBED AND DATED RED 北魏景明元年ǭ紅⒬岩ד龕
SANDSTONE BUDDHIST STELE
NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY (AD 386-534), DATED BY INSCRIPTION Ϝ源
TO AD 500 年入藏於香港
The main side of the stele is carved in high relief with a figure of 藍理捷
紐約
編號
Buddha shown seated in dhyanasana and right hand held open in
展覽
abhaya mudra. The adjacent sides are carved in more shallow relief, 紐約
藍理捷
「#VEEIJTU 4DVMQUVSF GSPN "ODJFOU $IJOB」
with one showing the Buddha standing between two bodhisattvas 年 月 日
below a pair of apsaras holding a lotus flower, and the other
showing the Buddha seated in meditation above two bodhisattvas ֨ḛ
in conversation. The fourth side is carved with a dedicatory 藍理捷
《#VEEIJTU 4DVMQUVSF GSPN "ODJFOU $IJOB》
紐約
inscription and the entire pillar is surmounted by a four-sided 年
編號
peaked roof.
10º in. (26 cm.) high The carved inscription begins with a date which may be translated
as “tenth day, seventh month, first year [of the reign of] Jing
$5,000-7,000
Ming,” corresponding to AD 500.
PROVENANCE:
Acquired in Hong Kong, 1998. A Northern Wei stone Buddhist stele of closely related form in
J. J. Lally & Co., New York, no. 2824. the collection of the Taito City Calligraphy Museum, Tokyo,
nd
dated by inscription to the 2 year of Yanxing (AD 472), is
EXHIBITED:
illustrated in Hokugi seikizį bukkyį chįkkoku no tenkai (Development
New York, J. J. Lally & Co., Buddhist Sculpture from Ancient China,
of Buddhist Sculpture in Northern Wei Dynasty China), Osaka,
10-31 March 2017.
2013, pp. 16-17, no. 02. See, also, the Northern Wei stone carving
LITERATURE: of a seated Buddha with very similar treatment of the drapery of
J. J. Lally & Co., Buddhist Sculpture from Ancient China, New York, the robes, illustrated by Matsubara, ChĿgoku bukkyį chįkokushi
2017, no. 3. kenkyį (Chinese Buddhist Sculpture: A Study Based on Bronze and
Stone Statues other than Works from Cave-Temples), Tokyo, 1966,
pl. 54a, with description on p. 238.

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