Page 148 - Sotheby's Junkunc Collection March 2019

his magnificent lion is portrayed in a dramatic pose. Although seated, its bulging, tense
muscles and menacing expression suggest a readiness to move. The, the carver’s
Tconfidence with the stone medium is seen in the rendering of the muscular body and in
the detailed carving of the nose and mouth, which contrast the linear swirls of the animal’s mane. Free-
standing sculptures of stone lions were seldom made in the Northern Qi dynasty, and those of such large
size and made from marble are especially rare.

In addition to their placement along Spirit Roads leading to tombs, lions also appear in Buddhist contexts
and it is more probable that the present example belongs to this tradition. The Gao family that founded
the Northern Qi dynasty were active patrons of Buddhism, and sponsored the building of numerous
temples. Jinhua Chen in ‘Buddhism under the Northern Qi’, Echoes of the Past, Smart Museum of Art,
The University of Chicago, Chicago, 2010, p. 3, expounds on the role of Northern Qi rulers in the spread
of Buddhism. Emperor Wenxuan (550-559) is said to have declared to the Buddhist leader Sengchou
(480-560) his intention to offer a third of state revenues to the Buddhist establishment. Daxuan Xu’s
biography of Sengchou further records the presence of four-thousand temples in the Northern Qi capital
alone.

The earliest anthropomorphic images of the Buddha from Mathura in northern India, and from
Gandhara in Pakistan, are often flanked by pairs of lions. A symbol of royalty and power in India, the two
lions represent the royal origins of the Buddha and are emblematic of his immense spiritual power. As
Buddhism spread throughout China under the patronage of the foreign Tuoba rulers in the Northern Wei

此獅偉岸雄健，威儀凜然，雖伏坐在地，然勁骨豐 《Echoes of the Past》，斯馬特美術館，芝加
肌，面目莊肅，如欲一躍而起。獅身魁碩，造像之人 哥大學，芝加哥，2010年，頁3。據傳，文宣帝曾
於此石材仍可游刃自如，不論彪軀塑造，抑或口鼻刻 向高僧僧稠發下宏願，布施全國營收三分之一，以
畫，皆見匠心，復以捲曲鬣毛與之相映。北齊鮮造圓 弘佛法。故此，據載北齊一朝，僅王都便有寺剎四
雕石獅像，龐然如斯且大理石造者，尤為罕有。 千。
以大石塑神獸源自漢代墓葬傳統，陵前甬道設石 北印度秣菟羅及巴基斯坦犍陀羅所出之佛陀早期形象
獸，成對而列。而獅子兼有佛教寓意，此尊或更 多以二獅脅侍。在印度，獅子象徵王權，二獅既頌佛
屬此類。北齊皇室高氏篤奉佛教，廣修佛寺。就 陀王族淵源，又昭佛陀無邊法力。得北魏鮮卑拓跋氏
北齊帝王如何影響佛教傳播，陳金華著有詳述， 奉持，佛教傳遍中土，又獲北齊皇室供養，與中土信
見〈Buddhism under the Northern Qi〉， 仰、修行產生交流，其圖像風格亦受影響。石獅造像
乃見此融合，形容怖畏，或分侍佛陀兩側，或護佑廟
宇等清淨之地。

146 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA