PROPERTY FROM A JAPANESE PRIVATE COLLECTION
A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF SEATED MAITREYA, NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY
Auction Closed
September 23, 08:35 PM GMT
Estimate
12,000 - 15,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF SEATED MAITREYA
NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY
北魏 銅鎏金彌勒佛坐像
the Buddha of the Future seated with the hands held in abhaya and varada mudra, the smiling face and topknot backed by an integral circular mandorla of incised flames radiating from a central flower, all raised on an integral rectangular base, modern stand, Japanese wood box (5)
Height 2⅝ in., 6.6 cm
Circular mandorla are not commonly seen in surviving Northern Wei bronze sculpture, and are more commonly seen in stone sculpture of the Northern dynasties. Another example of a bronze figure of Maitreya with an integral circular mandorla, also with incised flames, attributed to the Northern Wei period, is illustrated in Gilt-bronze Buddhas of the Six Dynasties Period, Kuboso Memorial Museum of Art, Izumi, 1991, cat. no. 87.