AN INSCRIBED MARBLE STELE OF AVALOKITESHVARA AND ATTENDANTS NORTHERN QI DYNASTY, DATED IN ACCORDANCE WITH AD 551

the figure standing with a sway-back posture on a lotus base, dressed in long robes cascading in crisp folds flaring out from the shoulders, with two long scarves intersecting through a bi disc around on the middle and looping over the thighs, the left pendent hand grasping a yue axe and the right clutching a lotus bud, the face with delicate features depicted in a benevolent expression, framed by a tall foliate crown with flanking scarves trailing down the shoulders, set between two young tonsured attendants - Ananda and Kasyapa - wearing flowing robes their hands conjoined in prayer, all against a broad oval mandorla supported on a large rectangular block plinth, the white marble patinated to a soft buff colour, the reverse of the plinth inscribed with a dedication by General Qi Anyu dated to the 27th day of the third month in the second year of the Tianbao period (corresponding to AD 551, Northern Qi dynasty), wood stand

Acquired between the 1950s and 60s.

The triad stele was probably positioned originally in an architectural niche. The top of the mandorla is chipped with an approx. 8 by 4 cm section that has detached and been re-affixed with an old glue (showing on the catalogue illustration). There is some wear and weathering to the surface in keeping with age. Otherwise there is no apparent recent damages or restoration.
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The inscription can be translated:
Mikou General Qi Anyu respectfully made a white jade figure, for his Majesty the Emperor, seven generations of parents, spouses and parivāra, so that all wishes may come true, on the 27th day of the third month in the second year of the Tianbao period [corresponding to AD 551, Northern Qi dynasty]. Hence [this is inscribed] to record.

The present simple yet finely carved Buddhist triad, dated in accordance with AD 551, represents an especially early work from the Northern Qi period, when there was a profound change in style in Buddhist carvings. Angela Falco Howard, ‘From Han to the Southern Song’, in Angela Falco Howard et al., Chinese Sculpture, New Haven and London, 2006, p. 274, notes that Northern Qi carvers rejected the typically weightless forms and excessive tense linearity characteristic of the preceding Wei style and adopted the style of beautifully modelled and lightly clad bodies, with sensitively fashioned torsos. As may be seen here, a hint of movement is created by the slightly raised belly, which, while not immediately apparent from the front, is clearly visible from the side.

Marble became an important material for individual Buddhist carvings of this period, especially in Zhengding and Dingzhou counties in Hebei province where this beautiful and luxurious stone was readily available. For a related example, see a slightly later triad stele carved with Avalokitesvara and two attendants, dated AD 562, illustrated in Matsubara Saburō, Chūgoku bukkyō chōkoku shi kenkyū/Chinese Buddhist Sculpture, Tokyo, 1966, pl. 174c.