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Lot Essay
The current figure is quite similar to a larger (125 cm. high) grey limestone figure of Buddha, dated by inscription to AD 711, in the Shodo Hokubutsukan, illustrated by Matsubara Subaro in Chugoku Bukkyo Chokokushi ron (The Path of Chinese Buddhist Sculpture), Tokyo, 1995, pl. 674, and also in Comprehensive IIlustrated Catalogue of Chinese Buddhist Statues in Overseas Collections, vol. 5, Beijing, 2005, pl. 1019. The pose, face, treatment of the hair, type of layered robes and manner in which the cloth drapes in crisp, elegant folds over the edge of the throne, are very similar. The mid-section of the published example is also faceted, but not decorated, and rises from octagonal tiers above a taller, lower, square section carved with a lengthy dated inscription flanked by small niches of repeated kneeling figures.
Both of these figures are missing the right hand, which was most likely raised in abhayamudra, the gesture of "do not fear", indicating that the Buddha is teaching. Each figure has the left hand resting on the knee, possibly in a variation of varadamudra, the gift-giving gesture, which is also associated with preaching. The combination of these two mudras would help to identify both of these figures as either the Historical Buddha Shakyamuni or Amitabha, the Buddha of Boundless Light.
The face of the current figure and that of the Shodo Hokubutsukan Buddha is carved with a small mouth above a small, dimpled chin set within the full-cheeked, fleshy face. Both figures have folds in the flesh of the neck. These features can also be seen in two other dated Tang dynasty stone sculptures of Buddha illustrated op. cit., Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Buddhist Statues in Overseas Collections, vol. 5, one a marble sculpture (55 cm. high) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, dated to AD 680, pl. 1016, the other a limestone figure (76.6 cm. high) in the Eisei-Bunko Musuem, Japan, dated to AD 705, pl. 1017. These latter figures also wear robes that are very similar, with the under-robe tied around the torso.
Both of these figures are missing the right hand, which was most likely raised in abhayamudra, the gesture of "do not fear", indicating that the Buddha is teaching. Each figure has the left hand resting on the knee, possibly in a variation of varadamudra, the gift-giving gesture, which is also associated with preaching. The combination of these two mudras would help to identify both of these figures as either the Historical Buddha Shakyamuni or Amitabha, the Buddha of Boundless Light.
The face of the current figure and that of the Shodo Hokubutsukan Buddha is carved with a small mouth above a small, dimpled chin set within the full-cheeked, fleshy face. Both figures have folds in the flesh of the neck. These features can also be seen in two other dated Tang dynasty stone sculptures of Buddha illustrated op. cit., Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Buddhist Statues in Overseas Collections, vol. 5, one a marble sculpture (55 cm. high) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, dated to AD 680, pl. 1016, the other a limestone figure (76.6 cm. high) in the Eisei-Bunko Musuem, Japan, dated to AD 705, pl. 1017. These latter figures also wear robes that are very similar, with the under-robe tied around the torso.