A gilt-bronze figure of a seated buddha, Tang dynasty

Sotheby's New York, 22nd September 2005, lot 10.

Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2017-2018.

Leopold Swergold, Thoughts on Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes, Aventura, 2014, cat. no. 16.

Beatrice Chan, 'Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston', Arts of Asia, January/February 2018, pp. 58-65.

Perched serenely atop a grand lotus pedestal, this intricately cast and somewhat atypical figure is a rare and fine example of the small ‘Teaching Buddhas’ produced for private use in the mid-Tang dynasty. While the precise iconography of this figure remains unclear by virtue of a rather indistinct mudra, the effect of its grand flowing robes, characterful expression and towering pedestal immediately imbue the figure (likely of Amitabha or Shakyamuni Buddha) with sense of regal beauty. 

Personal votive images of this type were produced in a range of sizes and styles, the present being a particularly fine and expressive example. Compare a similar image of slightly larger proportions but similar mudra and treatment of the robes, formerly in Nitta Collection and now in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in The Crucible of Compassion and Wisdom, Taipei, 1987, pl. 76; a second figure complete with foliate mandorla, in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated in Hai-Wai Yi-Chen. Chinese Art in Overseas Collections. Buddhist Sculpture, vol. 1, Taipei, 1986, pl. 81; a third with closely related flowing robes and crosshatching to the under-garment, in the Sano Art Museum, Mishima, illustrated alongside two others in Saburō Matsubara, Chūgoku Bukkyō chōkoku shiron [History of Chinese Buddhist sculpture], vol. III, Tokyo, 1995, pl. 709; a related pair in the Shanghai Museum, ibid., pl. 720; and another slightly smaller figure, sold in these rooms, 22nd September 2004, lot 16.