A large carved limestone figure of a Buddha, Northern Qi / Eastern Wei dynasty | 北齊 / 東魏 石灰岩雕佛立像

This magnificent image of the Buddha with restrained and beatific smile, which encapsulates the bliss of enlightenment, was carved in the sculptural style prevalent in the first half of the 6th century, in the late Northern Wei (386-534) or Eastern Wei (534-550) periods. Large-scale carving of Buddhist stone sculptures in China began in Northern Wei, supported by patronage from the imperial family, who commissioned the construction of famous grottos of Yungang and Longmen. By the early 6th century, the carving technique had matured, and the style had become more localised, evident by the rounder face, less pointing nose, as well as the Han style dress with a knot at the chest. But the general style of sculptures during this period still follows the earlier tradition, rendering the Buddha in a formal and stylised manner, without any attempts to depict the shape of the body beneath the garments.

A closely related standing Buddha, flanked by two Bodhisattvas, excavated from the Longxing temple site at Qingzhou in Shandong province, carved with similar hair style and Han-style rob with a knot at the chest, also decorated with a mandora of related pattern behind the head, attributed to Northern Wei, is illustrated in Shandong Qingzhou Longxingsi chutu fojiao shike zaoxiang jingpin / Masterpieces of Buddhist Statuary from Qingzhou City, Beijing, 1999, p. 46. For additional related examples from the Longxing temple site, see Zhao Puchu, Qingzhou Longxingsi fojiao zaoxiang yishu/Buddhist Imagery Art at Longxing Temple of Qingzhou, Ji’nan, 1999, pls. 11-12, 24-25, 30-31, 49 and 69.

Compare also a stele of Sakyamuni and Bodhisattvas group, with an inscription dated to 537, from the Cleveland Museum of Art, illustrated in The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, October 1994, pl. 17; another Buddha and Bodhisattvas group, dated to 534, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated in Leigh Ashton, An Introduction to the Study of Chinese Sculpture, London, 1924, pl. XVIII; and a slightly shorter example of a standing Buddha, with a very similar smiling face, as well as alike hair and the cloth style, attributed to Eastern Wei (534-550), illustrated in Baoli cang zhen, Baoli Yishu Bowuguan cang shike fojiao zaoxiang jingpin xuan [Selected Buddhist stone sculptures collected in the Poly Art Museum], Beijing, 2000, p. 85.