the muscular guardian depicted squatting in dynamic pose with the hips thrust to one side and arms akimbo, modelled with a fierce expression and a raised truncated right arm as if supporting a heavy load aloft, raising his broad chest and right shoulder and tilting his head to the left, his bent sinewy left arm resting on his left thigh, his face detailed with a broad nose and full lips, bulging eyes below prominent brows and voluminous long hair defined by long incised lines, all supported on a rectangular base, the stone of dark grey colour with remains of white pigment
Acquired between the 1950s and 60s.
Dvarapala, male gate or entrance guardian figures, are typically depicted supporting a ledge or the ferocious
lokapala or
tianhuang (Heavenly King) that were placed in pairs to protect the four corners of the universe. Traditionally they are portrayed as scary-looking creatures with masculine strong bodies. The present figure is a fine example of the type known from the Tang dynasty when the style came to represent the Chinese reworking of the standard form developed in the Indian Gupta period (AD 320-550), when figures of this type were made to look more human, generally adorned with accessories around their plump bodies.
For comparable examples, see a dvarapala figure supporting a tianhuang depicted in situ at Yangshitong, outside the north wall of the Longmen cave temples in Henan province, illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji, vol. 11, Shanghai, 1988, pl. 117, together with another dvarapala, shown in situ at Xiaotong, Longmen, included ibid., pl. 170, and two further examples from the south and north walls of Jinan tong, ibid., pl. 175, also from the Longmen cave temples.
Compare also a marble guardian figure, standing on two reclining dvarapala of closely related model to the present example, illustrated in Matsubara Saburō, Chūgoku bukkyō chōkoku shiron/Chinese Buddhist Sculpture, Tokyo, 1995, plate vol. 1, pl. 747, in the collection of the Xi'an Forest of Stele Museum, Shaanxi province. See also a wood carving of a guardian supported by two dvarapala of this type, ibid., pl. 760, in the collection of the Tōji temple in Kyoto, Japan.
