A grey limestone Buddhist stele

Northern Qi Dynasty

Footnotes

北齊 背屏式佛與脅侍菩薩立像

Provenance: Ben Janssens Oriental Art Ltd., London, 20 February 2006
John J. Studzinski, CBE

來源：英國倫敦古董商，Ben Janssens Oriental Art Ltd.，2006年2月20日
大英帝國司令勳章受勳者John J. Studzinski珍藏

The Buddha and bodhisattva on the present lot are similar to a number of sculptures discovered at Qingzhou, Shandong Province in 1996. The sculptures in this group range in date from the Northern Wei to the Northern Song dynasty. In the present lot, the realistic portrayal of the figures, as well as the simplicity of the Buddha's attire, his slightly rounded face and his hair style of tightly rolled curls all refer to a Northern Qi dynasty date. See L.Nickel, The Return of the Buddha: Buddhist Sculptures of the 6th Century from Qingzhou, China, Zurich, 2002, nos.21, 22 and 25; another similar but larger, triad, Northern Qi, is in the Aurora Foundation Collection, Taiwan; see Chen Hui-hsia and Lee Yu-Min, The Art of Contemplation: Religious Sculpture from Private Collections, Taipei, 1997, pp.92-93, no.21. A slightly earlier related stele is in the Musee Guimet in Paris, illustrated by W.Watson, The Arts of China to AD 900, London, 1995, p.144, no.235.

The pointed base of the stele would have fitted into the central cavity of a separate lotus stand. Tetsuei Tsuda points out that the basic form of this type of two-part stone stele was developed from small votive bronzes that were popular as early as the 5th century, see L.Nickel, The Return of the Buddha: Buddhist Sculptures of the 6th Century from Qingzhou, China, Zurich, 2002, p.117. It is known from inscriptions that sculptures such as the present lot were commissioned both by individuals and by groups of Buddhist laymen, as well as by monks and nuns, and that they were donated for the accumulation of merit and good karma; see Ibid., p.121.

Compare with a related small pale grey stone Buddhist stele fragment, Northern Qi dynasty, which was sold at Christie's New York, 13-14 September 2018, lot 1133.