A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF BUDDHA SIXTEEN KINGDOMS, 4TH / 5TH CENTURY

cast with hands in dhyanamudra and concentric ripples falling down the front of the loose robes that cover the entire body and legs, seated in dhyanasana upon a demi-lune pedestal with two lions on the front, the face with a calm, meditative expression, beneath the prominent ushnisha, the back of the head set with a loop

Collection of the late Reverend Hozen Seki (1903-1991), acquired in 1927 and thence by descent.

There is wear to the gilding, and surface wear consistent with age. There are three small holes in the neck, one below the right eye, one in the knee, and one just below the edge of the robe in the front. There is a crack in the right side of the neck, an indentation on the left knee,  and scattered minor casting flaws. in overall good condition for its age.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The present gilt-bronze figure comes from a small series of the earliest Chinese figures to incorporate the new iconography of votive images from India executed in the Gandharan and Guptan style. The formal position and simple, almost abstract rendering of the folds make these early, highly stylized sculptures particularly striking.

Among the largest and most impressive of these figures is the famous Buddha in The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco illustrated in Rene-Yvon Lefebvre d'Argence (Ed), Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage Collection, Tokyo, 1974, no. 19, pp. 64-67. This large figure, 15½ in. high, bears a fragmentary inscription dated 338 AD, from the Jianwu reign of emperor Shi Hu of the later Zhao dynasty, a non-Chinese tribe, which briefly controlled a large portion of north China from 329 - 350 AD. Unlike the more languid and staple political structure of south China, which bred a version of Buddhism that favored political discourse, the constant political upheavals and rapidly changing social structure of north China nurtured fervent religiosity and an adherence to original Indian texts, a desire to return to fundamental principles both in doctrine and in iconography. This explains the rapid absorption of Indian sculptural models, as expressed in the present figure with its geometricized drapery inspired by Guptan figures, and in the squared features. This correlation is even more pronounced in another famous image, from the Grenville Winthrop collection, now in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, illustrated in Hugo Munsterberg, Chinese Buddhist Bronzes, Tokyo, 1967, pl.3, which has truly Indic facial features and Gandharan sculptural influences, yet already bears the flanking lions as found on the present example. Another related image, with similar proportions and iconography is the famous small gilt-bronze in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, with two additional tiny figures of worshippers flanking the lotus between the lions, illustrated ibid., pl. 2.

Another similar votive image, but complete with the backing mandorla bearing relief figures of attendants and flying apsaras all below an umbrella canopy, and the separate four-footed pedestal base, all excavated from Shijiazhuang, Hebei province in 1955, was exhibited in China. Dawn of A Golden Age (200 - 750 AD), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2004, cat. no. 45.  With the loop on the back of the head, it is likely that the present figure would have had similar embellishments, perhaps not as elaborate as the Shijiazhuang figure but more in line with an example from the collection of Mr. Ivan Hart, illustrated in Munsterberg, op. cit., pl. 4. 

Further examples are illustrated in The Crucible of Compassion and Wisdom, Special Exhibition Catalog of the Buddhist Bronzes from the Nitta Group collection at the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1987, pl. 55, which most closely resembles the present lot; and in Saburo Matsubara, Chinese Buddhist Sculpture, Tokyo, 1966, pls. 8a-e.

For examples that have sold at auction in these rooms, see 7th December 1983, lot 81; 22nd September 2005, lot 8, and 21st September 2006, lot 111.