Page 125 - Christie's Important Chinese Art, March 23 to 24 2023 New York

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
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A LARGE SANDSTONE FIGURE OF MAITREYA 私́珍藏
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
唐ǎ砂岩彌勒ζ
46q in. (118.1 cm.) high Ϝ源
戴潤齋
紐☼
$200,000-300,000 ̯瑟g姆g㈃Գ勒
珍藏
̯瑟g姆g㈃Գ勒珍藏
哥і比̯૯學
PROVENANCE: ̯瑟g姆g㈃Գ勒基金會
年
J. T. Tai & Co., Inc., New York.
Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987) Collections. 展覽
Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Columbia University. 麻省費茲ਫ
費茲ਫ藝術博ḵ館
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Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 2001. . 4BDLMFS 'PVOEBUJPOǚ
年 月 日 年 月 日
塔夫茨૯學
年
EXHIBITED:
Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Fitchburg Art Museum, Asia Unearthed: Treasures
from the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 2 October 2005-19 February 2006.
Tufts University, 2009-2020.

This large seated sandstone figure of Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future, The pedestal support of the current figure is carved with unusual features
finely carved with robes elegantly draping across his chest and legs, is including faces around the lower plinth, a dancer on the reverse and faint
representative of the grace, realism, and devotion found in Tang dynasty figures that may be musicians on the sides. A painted grey stone stele of
th
th
Buddhist sculpture. Buddha, dated to the late 7 /early 8 century, illustrated in Fojiao Diaosu
Mingpin Tulu (Images of Famous Buddhist Sculpture), Beijing, 1997, pp. 111-
In the early Tang dynasty, imperial patronage both sponsored artistic 12, nos. 103-4, also depicts a plinth carved on the sides with musicians and
projects and fostered the growth of Buddhism. Empress Wu Zetian (r. 684- on the back with dancers. A Tang dynasty stone stele featuring Buddha and
704) was a devout Buddhist and patron for many important Buddhist sites. two attendants in the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated by S. Matsubara in
One prominent site built at the time, Huijian cave, near the Longmen caves, Chuugoku Bukkyo Chokokushi Ron (The Path of Buddhist Sculpture), vol. 3,
south of Luoyang, features a seated Maitreya, signifying the importance and Tang, Five Dynasties, Song and Taoism Sculpture, Tokyo, 1995, pl. 612, also
popularity of Maitreya in the early Tang dynasty. According to A. Howard depicts a dancer and musicians in the upper register of the stele.
in Chinese Sculpture, “From the Han to the Southern Song”, New Haven,
2006, p. 299, “The choice of a seated Maitreya reflects the empress’s strong
support of the Maitreya cult. The style of this imposing Buddha-with his
powerful chest and limbs discernible under the incised robes- successfully
conveys the sense of a strong, naturally shaped body…The Huijian Buddha
reflects an idealized kind of realism.”
Imagery in Tang dynasty Buddhist Art also reflects the burgeoning
importance of Pure Land Buddhism, a branch of Mahayana Buddhism
focused on achieving rebirth in a Pure Land. A Tang dynasty stele in The
Metropolitan Museum of Art depicting Pure Land ideology is illustrated in
D. Leidy, Wisdom Embodied: Chinese Buddhist and Daoist Sculpture in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, pp. 94-95, cat. no. 15. The
front of the stele depicts paired bodhisattvas, which are representative of
the Pure Land paradise, and the reverse depicts three niches, each with a
Buddha accompanied by attendants. The niche at the top of the stele depicts
Maitreya in Ketumati, an earthy paradise that will be created during his final
birth, where he will serve as the teaching Buddha. When the present figure
was made, Maitreya was of the utmost importance to the Buddhist ideology
of the time.

The figure rests on a stepped pedestal, carved on the front with two lotus
flowers upon which the figure rests his feet. A similar seated figure of
Maitreya, dated to AD 675, also seated on a pedestal base with lotus flowers
beneath the figure’s feet, is in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco,
illustrated by Jin Shen in Hai wai ji Gang yai cang li dai fo xiang: zhen pin
ji nian tu jian (Catalogue of Treasures of Buddhist Sculptures in Overseas
Collections Including Hong Kong and Taiwan), Shanxi, 2007, p. 192.
The same figure is illustrated again by d'Argencé, et al., Chinese, Korean
and Japanese Sculpture, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 1974, pp.
180-81, no. 85, where it is noted that the linear garment folds, calm facial
expressions, and curled hair are commonly found on images of Maitreya
during the latter part of the seventh century. See, also, the finely modeled
Tang dynasty marble torso of Maitreya, with similar robes to the present
figure, sold at Bonhams Los Angeles, 22 June 2021, lot 21.
(detail of reverse)