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Lot Essay
The partially legible inscription may be read, "The couple [][] of Fancheng [present-day Miyun county, Beijing] made this figure of Guanyin, the whole family...," and is dated to the second year of Yuanchang (513 CE).
The Five Transcendent Buddhas on the back of the aureole represent the Five Elements, Five Directions, Five Buddha Families and the Five Wisdoms. They are Vairochana, Akshobhya, Amitabha, Ratnasambhava and Amoghasiddhi, and are shown seated beneath a canopy, one of the Eight Buddhist Emblems.
This votive stele is similar to another Northern Wei (386-534) gilt-bronze stele, of the same height, inscribed on the reverse with an inscription that includes the names of the donors and a date corresponding to 524 CE, illustrated by Jin Shen in Zhongguo Lidai Jinian Foxiang Tudian (Illustrated Chinese Buddha Images Through the Ages), Beijing, 1995, p. 170, no. 119. As with the present figure, the latter figure holds a lotus stem and an elixir bottle, wears a similar crown and has very similar flames on the aureole. In the inscription the figure is identified as Avalokiteshvara.
The Five Transcendent Buddhas on the back of the aureole represent the Five Elements, Five Directions, Five Buddha Families and the Five Wisdoms. They are Vairochana, Akshobhya, Amitabha, Ratnasambhava and Amoghasiddhi, and are shown seated beneath a canopy, one of the Eight Buddhist Emblems.
This votive stele is similar to another Northern Wei (386-534) gilt-bronze stele, of the same height, inscribed on the reverse with an inscription that includes the names of the donors and a date corresponding to 524 CE, illustrated by Jin Shen in Zhongguo Lidai Jinian Foxiang Tudian (Illustrated Chinese Buddha Images Through the Ages), Beijing, 1995, p. 170, no. 119. As with the present figure, the latter figure holds a lotus stem and an elixir bottle, wears a similar crown and has very similar flames on the aureole. In the inscription the figure is identified as Avalokiteshvara.