Page 16 - Bonhams Asian Art London November 5, 2020

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN 紳士藏品

5 TP
A LARGE LIMESTONE BUDDHIST STELE
Eastern Wei Dynasty or later
The stele of pointed arched form, carved in high relief with a figure
of Shakyamuni Buddha standing in the centre flanked by two
bodhisattvas, his right hand raised in the peace-giving gesture abhaya
mudra, the left lowered to his side, clad in long and thin robes falling
over the shoulders and looping across the body in multiple folds, the
head framed by a circular halo decorated with multiple whorls, all
beneath a smaller seated figure of Amithaba Buddha flanked by six
flying apsaras, stand.
96cm high (37 6/8in) high (2).

£30,000 - 50,000
CNY260,000 - 440,000

東魏或更晚 背屏式佛菩薩三尊造像

Provenance: Nakanishi Bunzo, Kyoto, possibly by inheritance from his
father Nakanishi Bunzo, who was chief assistant at the Kyoto branch
of Yamanaka & Co., by repute
James Freeman, Kyoto
An important American private collection, acquired from the above in 2002

來源：傳為日本京都Nakanishi Bunzo舊藏，或繼承自其父，原山中商
會京都分部首席助理，Nakanishi Bunzo
日本京都James Freeman舊藏
重要美國私人收藏，於2002年購自前者

Richly carved with a vibrant scene of veneration, encapsulating Steles played an important role in the development of regional
Buddhist compassion and celestial quality, the present carving religious art. During the Northern Wei dynasty, state-sponsorship
encapsulates the emergence of stone steles as an important Buddhist of Buddhism enabled the rapid spread of the religion throughout
sculptural medium in Chinese history. Northern China. At this time, Buddhist voluntary groups affiliated to
local temples and organised by laymen became the main patrons of
Holding his right hand in abhaya mudra, signifying reassurance, the Buddhist steles which commemorated the group’s religious, social,
Buddha conveys to the worshippers that they may receive the divine and territorial identity. The relative ubiquity of the medium employed
blessings. to manufacture steles, and their small size, prompted a multitude of
regional workshops, many of which developed their own style using
According to the ‘Lotus Sutra’, the apsaras are the protectors of the the monumental cave temple carvings as a basis.
Buddha and of doctrine. These creatures were frequently portrayed in
Buddhist cave temples from at least 420 and grew in popularity during Compare the stylistic features of the present stele with a related one,
the late Northern Wei and Eastern Wei periods. See The Return of the dated by inscription to the Eastern Wei (534-550), from the Cleveland
Buddha: The Qingzhou Discoveries, London, 2002, p.84. Museum, of Art, Ohio, illustrated in J.A MacLean, ‘A Buddhist Trinity’,
in The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol.11, no.3, 1914,
The origins of Buddhist steles are traceable to two major historical pp.2-3. Similarities can be noted in the serene expressions of the
events, both documented at the Buddhist cave temple sites of figures, fullness of their bodies and style of drapery as well as the
Yungang and Longmen (386-534), which occurred during the last two modelling of the apsaras flying above the central figures.
decades of the fifth century: the emergence of Buddhist devotional
societies and the first espousal of tablets for Buddhist use. See A related inscribed limestone Buddhist stele, Eastern Wei dynasty, was
D.C.Wong, Chinese Steles. Pre-Buddhist and Buddhist Use of a sold at Sotheby’s New York, 20 March 2018, lot 202.
Symbolic Form, Honolulu, 2004, p.43.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
14 | BONHAMS please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.