A rare white marble figure of a 'dvarapala', Tang dynasty

Acquired in 1988.

With its luminous surface and expressive carving, this rare marble figure of a dvarapala, or gate guardian, is illustrative of the masterful sculptural tradition of the Tang dynasty. With exaggerated musculature and bulging features, which in some places border on the grotesque, the figure is an image of ferocity and power. The dynamic, contrapposto stance and swaying drapery lend the sculpture a sense of movement that belies its heavy material. Important members of the early Chinese Buddhist iconographic ensemble, dvarapalas were tasked with protecting the entrance to the temple and were always found in pairs, one on either side of the gate. In contrast to lokapalas, also known as the Four Guardian Kings, which were armored and depicted in groups of four, dvarapalas were almost always portrayed bare-chested and with particularly exaggerated musculature. 

While Buddha images carved from marble are more well-documented, extant examples of guardian figures in this expensive and fine material are relatively rare, with examples in sancai-glazed pottery being more common. A closely-related example of similar size is in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (accession no. 2006.79), published on the museum’s website. A larger pair of dvarapalas in the Rietberg Museum, Zurich, from the collection of Eduard von der Heydt, with similarly stylized physical features but simpler skirts, is illustrated in Osvald Sirén, Chinese Sculptures in the von der Heydt Collection, Zurich, 1959, p. 105, nos 32 and 33, where they are attributed to the Henan/Hebei region. Another pair attributed to the Henan region, closer in size to the present example, is in the University Museum, Philadelphia, illustrated in Osvald Sirén, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, London, 1925, pl. 480, together with a larger single figure from the collection of David David-Weill, now in the Musée Guimet, Paris, pl. 481.