Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese Buddhist Gilt-Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection

Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese Buddhist Gilt-Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 3501. A bronze stele of Amitabha Buddha Northern Wei dynasty | 北魏 銅阿彌陀佛坐像.

A bronze stele of Amitabha Buddha Northern Wei dynasty | 北魏 銅阿彌陀佛坐像

Auction Closed

October 12, 12:42 PM GMT

Estimate

60,000 - 80,000 HKD

Lot Details

Description

A bronze stele of Amitabha Buddha

Northern Wei dynasty 

北魏 銅阿彌陀佛坐像


finely cast in the form of Amitabha seated in padmasana with hands depicted in dhyanamudra, the Buddha of Infinite Light raised on a quadrangular base against a petal-shaped mandorla, tight and precisely etched with lines radiating from the outlines of the Buddha, reminiscent of light emitted by the deity, the robes etched with horizontal lines providing clear visual contrast against the mandorla, draping elegantly over the Buddha’s shoulders and arms with a small asymmetrical opening at the right chest 

h. 11.1 cm

J.J. Lally & Co., New York, March 2006.


藍理捷，紐約，2006年3月

Leopold Swergold, Thoughts on Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes, 2014, Aventura, cat. no. 4.

Beatrice Chan, 'Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston', Arts of Asia, January/February 2018, pp. 58-65.


Leopold Swergold，《Thoughts on Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes》，2014年，圖版4

Beatrice Chan，〈Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston〉，《Arts of Asia》，2018年1至2月，頁58-65

This finely cast votive stele depicts Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light, seated on a platform raised on a quadrangular base, all against a petal-shaped mandorla. The precise linear style that permeates the mandorla and figure is simple yet powerful. It provides a frame for the figure, and also denotes the infinite light radiating from the divine through the mandorla. The treatment of the drapery on the Buddha closely adheres to Gandharan prototypes, but the mode of expression is distinctly sinicised. Another Northern Wei votive stele of similar style, dated by inscription to 530, is in the collection of the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo jintong fo [Chinese Gilt Bronze Buddhist Sculptures], Taipei, 1995, pl. 30.