Page 149 - Sotheby's Junkunc Collection March 2019

and continued to receive imperial sponsorship in the Northern Qi, the faith was integrated into
Chinese ideology, practices and iconography. This syncretism is displayed in sculptures of lions,
which in China are rendered with menacing features, and were used to flank the Buddha and to
protect the entrance of temples and sacred spaces.

Stylistically this lion marks a shift from the more abstract Buddhist animal sculptures of the
preceding Northern Wei. An attempt at naturalism is displayed in the tensed muscular body of
the animal, while the rendering of the animal’s hair in finely combed swirls differs significantly
from the carving of deep parallel ridges in the Northern Wei versions. A Northern Wei lion in the
Guyangdong cave at Longmen, Henan province, is illustrated in situ in Zhongguo meishu quanji.
Diaosu bian [Complete collection of Chinese art, sculpture. Longmen stone sculpture], vol. 11,
Shanghai, 1988, pl. 6; see also a smaller lion sold in these rooms, 3rd June 1985, lot 25.

The remains of two Northern Qi lions used as pillar supports at the entrance of Southern
Xiangtangshan caves, are illustrated in situ in Xiangtangshan shiku [Xiantangshan caves],
Beijing, 2003, pl. 47; together with three free-standing lions, pls 98-100. A much smaller lion
with its mouth closed, from the Sakamoto Gorō Collection, was sold in our Hong Kong rooms,
8th October 2013, lot 128. Compare also a smaller lion attributed to the Northern Wei dynasty,
but featuring a related mane, in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated in René-Yvon
Lefebvre d’Argencé, Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage Collection,
San Francisco, 1974, pl. 42.

論及風格，此獅不同於前朝北魏所造之抽象佛 另比南響堂山石窟入口柱基兩尊北齊石獅殘像，
獸。獅身健碩，務求自然；鬣毛捲曲，紋絲不 錄《響堂山石窟》，北京，2003年，圖版47；
亂，與北魏以平行紋絡刻畫獸毛大相徑庭。比河 同錄三尊圓雕石獅，圖版98至100；及一石獅，
南龍門石窟古陽洞一北魏石獅，錄《中國美術全 甚小，閉口，原坂本五郎舊藏，後售於香港蘇
集——雕塑編》，卷11，上海，1988年，圖版6 富比2013年10月8日，編號128。仍比一例，較
；一例較小，售於紐約蘇富比1985年6月3日， 小，傳造於北魏，然鬣毛與此尊相類，貯舊金
編號25。 山亞洲藝術博物館，載 René-Yvon Lefebvre
d’Argencé，《Chinese, Korean and Japa-
nese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage Col-
lection》，舊金山，1974年，圖版42。

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