Page 64 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Art London Nov. 2019

The serene meditative expression of this sculpture, rendered through The Sui dynasty emperors used this invigoration of Buddhist faith
the sensitive carving style and harmonious curves, epitomizes the as an opportunity to embark on major building projects, including
high quality achieved by stone carvers in the Sui dynasty. The fleshy the construction of pagodas, temples and religious statuary, as a
face, narrow eyes, and sharply carved arched brows which form a means of unifying the fragmented empire. Indeed, Emperor Wen
harmonious curve with the ridge of the nose, encapsulate the classic and his empress had converted to Buddhism to legitimise imperial
style of the Buddha image in the Sui dynasty. authority over China. The emperor presented himself as a Cakravartin
king, a Buddhist monarch who would use military force to defend
The political and social turmoil that accompanied dynastic changes the Buddhist faith. This religio-political agenda also led to increased
leading to China’s unification under the Sui dynasty in the late 6th communication across eastern Eurasia, which contributed to the
century significantly impacted Chinese Buddhist practice in several transmission of Buddhist concepts and artistic styles from South and
ways which are reflected in religious art of the period. In their search Central Asia into China, and from China to Korea and Japan.
for refuge beyond the chaos of the material world, a variant form
of Pure Land Buddhism which allowed adherents to be reborn in Compare with a related stone head of Buddha, Tang dynasty, with
Sukhavati (the Western Paradise of the Buddha Amitabha), grew in similarly low forehead, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
popularity. Consequently, images of Buddha proliferated in the third (ac.no.13.151.1). See also a monumental marble Amitabha Buddha,
quarter of the 6th century, as evidenced by the present and numerous Sui dynasty, in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Chinese
contemporaneous examples. Sculpture, New Haven, 2006, fig.3.95. Compare also with a related
limestone head of Buddha, Northern Qi/Sui dynasty, which was sold
at Bonhams New York, 19 March 2018, lot 8160.

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