1 / 8
AGUTTES
233
-
CHINA NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY (386-534)
Rare and important stel…
See original version (French)
233
-
CHINA NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY (386-534)
Rare and important stel…
See original version (French)
Estimate €20,000 - €30,000
Voluntary lot
Description
CHINA
NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY (386-534)
Rare and important stele in sculpted pink sandstone depicting Shakyamuni Buddha, standing with his hands in varada mudra and abhaya mudra, his body sculpted in high relief, dressed in a long monastic robe whose folds fall back in a "U" shape, his face oval with a smiling expression, his hair treated in large spiral locks. The whole resting on a large flamed mandorla. The reverse, in bas-relief, depicts the Buddha seated in padmasana under a canopy, his hands in abhaya mudra, surrounded by two bodhisattvas standing on lotiform bases, adorned with floating scarves and crowned, one holding a fly swatter. The entire scene is depicted under a roof.
Dim. tot. 57 x 43.8 cm; Dim. 53 x 37 cm
Provenance:
Jean-Claude Moreau-Gobard certificate
French private collection, then by descent
Description:
Our stele illustrates the major characteristics of the Northern Wei style. The figures are slender, sometimes hyper-stylized: stretched bodies, proportionately large heads, hands enlarged to emphasise the symbolic significance of the mudrā. The drapery unfolds in linear, angular folds, often arranged in regular arcs or concentric rhythms. The flame decoration on the mandorla is also characteristic of the period. Stylistically, our work is similar to a larger stele in the collections of the Cleveland Art Museum, Cleveland (1959.130), depicting Maitreya Buddha accompanied by two attendants, while the reverse bears a dedication inscription from its commissioner, giving the date 500.
From the 5th century onwards, stelae showing Buddhist images (zaoxiang bei) were an essential medium of devotion in China. Their versatility and the availability of stone encouraged the emergence of a variety of regional workshops, notably in Gansu, a region that was active in the production of Buddhist steles in the 5th-6th centuries. The popularisation of Buddhist stelae, alongside the great state rock sanctuaries, was driven by lay devotional groups linked to local temples, which played a fundamental role in the spread of Buddhist art. They were commissioned and offered for installation in temples. The making of Buddhist images was a means of personal devotion and accumulating merit, but it was also an act of piety or gratitude on the part of individual donors.
Buddhism was introduced to China in the early centuries AD, and under the Northern Wei, under imperial patronage, underwent a decisive expansion. An instrument of political and spiritual cohesion, it enjoyed massive support from the authorities: by the 5th century, there were thousands of monasteries and tens of thousands of monks in Northern China. The Wei sovereigns sometimes presented themselves as incarnations of the Buddha, commissioning monumental programmes such as the Yungang and then Longmen caves, where the statuary reached a stylistic peak.
Founded by the Tabghatch (called Tuoba in Chinese), a group descended from the Xianbei, an ancient nomadic people of the eastern Eurasian steppes, the Northern Wei dynasty (386-534) reunified and governed northern China during a period of political fragmentation in the Middle Kingdom known as the Sixteen Kingdoms (316-439) and the Southern and Northern dynasties (420-589). Its rulers gradually adopted Chinese institutions and culture, particularly under Emperor Xiaowen (r. 471-499), who transferred the capital to Luoyang and encouraged a policy of Sinicisation.
This stele bears rare witness to the regional expressions of Buddhism under the Northern Wei. It illustrates an essential phase in Chinese art, when the Buddhist image, still imbued with symbolic schematisation, asserted itself as a major vector of religious identity and plastic innovation.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like