A RARE LIMESTONE FIGURE OF BUDDHA TANG DYNASTY

portrayed with partial right hand at chest level, the left hand resting on one knee, seated with legs hidden beneath loose robes falling in folds over the shoulders, the full face with a meditative expression, flanked by elongated earlobes beneath hair arranged in large coils covering the head and ushnisha, backed by a leaf-shaped mandorla carved as a circular halo enclosing the seven buddhas of the past within foliate scrolls, further enclosed within a border of flames, all supported on a lotus throne borne on a column carved with kirtimukha masks encircled with lotus petals on a square plinth, the surface with remnants of later-added red and green pigments

Collection of Fujii Zensuke (1873-1943).
Yurinkan Museum, Kyoto, until the 1980s.

This seated figure, which possibly depicts the Medicine Buddha Bhaisajyaguru, is notable for its sensitive and at the same captivating modeling, as seen in the fleshy serene face that expresses a kind and benevolent smile. His facial expression, rendered with broadly curving lines in the eyes and lips, as well as the linear carving of the folds of the dress, the hands and the curls, stem from the great sculptural tradition established during the Northern Wei dynasty, as seen in a large figure of a seated Buddha attributed to the Northern Wei, in the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated in Matsubara Saburō, Chūgoku bukkyō chōkoku shiron, Tokyo, 1995, vol. 1, pl. 69a.

A stone figure carved in a similar style, excavated in Shanxi province is illustrated in Wenwu, vol. III, 1955, p. 85, fig. 9; and another, inscribed with a cyclical date corresponding to 711 AD, was sold in these rooms, 5th November 1977, lot 56. Compare also seated sculptures of the Buddha with the mandorla similarly carved with seven meditating buddhas divided by a scroll, as seen in two larger figures, one in the Yurinkan Museum , Kyoto, and the other in the Osaka Municipal Museum, Osaka, both included in the exhibition Zui Tō no bijutsu, Osaka Municipal Museum, Osaka, 1978, cat. nos 58 and 294; another figure, in the Eisei Bunko Museum, Tokyo, illustrated in Matsubara Saburō, op. cit, vol. 3, pl. 640, nos b and c; a large stone head with mandorla, from the collections of Prince Kamakura, Mrs Kasen Kawamur and Stephen Junkunc III, sold at Christie’s New York, 22nd March 2007, lot 222; and another, attributed to the Northern Qi period, included in the exhibition Ancient Chinese Sculpture, Eskenazi Ltd, London, 1981, cat. no. 4.

Bhaisajyaguru is one of the most prominent figures in the Buddhist Pantheon, believed to be one of Eight Medicine Buddhas who presided over the seven worlds. Veneration of Bhaisajyaguru spread during the Tang dynasty when the Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍuryaprabharaja sutra was translated into Chinese by Yijing (AD 635-713; originally named Zhang Wenming), a Tang dynasty monk who was responsible for the translation of a large number of Buddhist texts from Sanskrit into Chinese. The translation of the Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍuryaprabharaja sutra includes vows taken by Bhasajyaguru and the Seven Buddhas of the Past to aid all sentient beings.