A RARE LIMESTONE 'BUDDHIST TRIAD' STELE TANG DYNASTY |

substantially carved with an arched niche enclosing a superbly carved Buddha seated on a pedestal with robes cascading in voluminous folds, flanked by two bodhisattvas standing on each side, each figure depicted with pendulous earlobes, all atop a lower register with fragments of figures, including possibly two lions, wood stand

A Japanese collection since the 1920s.

This carved stone triad likely represents Shakyamuni Buddha, as the position of the right hand appears to be in the bhumisparsha (‘earth-touching’) position, flanked by two bodhisattvas depicted holding cintamani (‘wish-granting jewels’). Compare a Tang stone stele similarly carved in high relief with a seated figure of Buddha flanked by two bodhisattvas standing on waisted lotus plinths, bearing a dedicatory inscription dated to the second year of Jingyun (AD 711), illustrated by Li JIngjie in Shifo Xuancui [Essence of Buddhistic Statues], Beijing, 1995, p. 73, no. 53. See also a Tang dynasty earthenware plaque carved with similar iconography originally in the collection of Edgar Worch, and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession number 30.137.

Compare also a large Tang dynasty marble stele of Buddha flanked by attendants from the collection of the Castello delle Serre, Siena, Tuscany, sold at Christie’s London, 5th November 2013, lot 386, and another, originally in the collection of Carl Jung, sold at Christie’s New York, 14th/15th September 2017, lot 918.