Page 128 - Fine Asian Works of Art December 19, 2016, SF
P. 128
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF BETTY GILBERT
STEVENS (1916-1999), BY DESCENT TO THE CURRENT
OWNER
8198 For a detailed discussion of the drastic change in artistic style between
A RARE CARVED STONE FIGURE OF THE BUDDHA the preceding Northern Wei dynasty (386-535CE) and the Northern
Northern Qi Period (550-577) CE Qi characteristics of the present lot, see Angela Falco Howard et
Depicted with an alluringly peaceful countenance surrounded by tight al., Chinese Sculpture (New York: Yale University Press and Foreign
hair curls, the figure standing and outstretching now-lost hands over Languages Press, 2006), 274: 'Under the influence of the Gupta style
which drape the billowing sleeves of his monastic robes covering (300-600) of India... snail shell curls, lotus-like eyes, and voluptuous
both shoulders and rendered simply in descending rows of graceful lips gracing elegant, sensitively modeled torsos became an alternative
u-shaped folds above the cascading ankle length hem ending unevenly to the prevailing aesthetic... [exhibiting] more naturalistic and fuller
above notably flat feet rendered in a manner consistent with the 32 body forms, embellished with unobtrusive and elegant surface
laksanas of the Buddha; the reverse rough and uncarved. patterns.'
25in (63.5cm) high
US$20,000 - 30,000 Other examples which share these characteristically Northern Qi
rounded and full features and the very simply rendered water-like
Provenance flowing attire of the present lot are published in Matsubara Saburo,
A private collection, Loveland, Colorado, purchased March, 1974, Chugoku Bukkyo Chokoku Shiron (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobunkan,
thence by descent to the current owner 1995); specifically: the figure of an arhat in the collection of the
Arthur Joliffe, Denver, Colorado Cleveland Museum, 450; the figure of a standing Buddha in the Nezu
Yamanaka and Company, Kyoto, Japan Musuem, 493; and the figure of the seated Buddha in the Victoria and
Albert Museum, 490.
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