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Scientific Analysis Report: A material composition and surface analysis report issued by ORENDA Laboratory (Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA) on 18 April 2007, under report number #204187STC, identified the material as limestone with fossilized sea life (berry stone) exhibiting natural depositional alteration, decomposition wear, and surface diffusion processes consistent with long-term burial and exposure to soil minerals. The analysis concludes that there is ample evidence supporting the authenticity of the figure as Qi/Sui, consistent with the dating above.
Expert Authentication: This lot was authenticated and dated by Anthony M. Lee, confirming the dating stated above. Lee has written an essay for this exceptional sculpture, titled ‘That Personal Touch – Individuality in Late Northern Qi Sculpture’, in which he places the figure within the context of the Qingzhou discoveries and demonstrates how its distinctive robes, rare hand gesture, dragon clasp, and surviving surface treatment embody the artistic and religious transformations of the period, concluding that it was not a conventional devotional icon but a purposefully conceived and highly individualized expression of Mahayana thought and courtly taste. The full article can be viewed here:
zacke.blob.core.windows.net/pdfs/FAS1026_Lot%2037_Full%20Article.pdf
China. Finely carved standing in samabhanga with the lowered left hand gathering and clutching the hem of his voluminous robe cascading in broad rhythmic folds across the torso and continuing in gently curving bands to the ankles. The outer robe is gathered over the left shoulder and secured by a finely carved dragon-form clasp, with a looped section of cloth falling beneath. The sensitively modeled face bears a serene, introspective expression, with downcast eyes, gently arched brows, a broad nose, and full lips. The hair is arranged in rows of tight curls over the domed ushnisha.
Art Loss Register: ALR Ref: TFA 271-2. A copy of the certification document accompanies the lot.
Provenance: Throckmorton Fine Art, New York, United States, by 2008. A private collection in Malibu, United States, acquired from the above, and thence by descent. A copy of the invoice from Throckmorton Fine Art, dated 9 June 2008, confirming the dating above, and stating a purchase price for the present lot of USD 25,000 or approx. EUR 36,000 (converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing), accompanies the lot.
Condition: Very good condition, commensurate with age. Old wear, obvious losses, signs of weathering and erosion, encrustations, structural fissures, chips to extremities, nicks.
Dimensions: Height 79.5 cm (excl. stand), 92 cm (incl. stand)
Mounted on a modern stand. (2)
This imposing figure exemplifies the restrained monumentality and refined elegance that characterize Buddhist sculpture produced during the transition from the Northern Qi to the Sui dynasty. The gently sloping shoulders, formal frontal stance, and softly articulated facial features convey a sense of profound stillness, while the heavy monastic robes are animated by broad, undulating folds that fall with remarkable clarity and balance. The restrained modeling of the body beneath the robe, together with the abstracted yet tactile treatment of the drapery, reflects the movement away from the more linear styles of the earlier Northern dynasties toward the fuller and increasingly naturalistic forms of the Sui period.
Of particular note is the treatment of the kasaya, which is draped diagonally across the body, gathered beneath the left shoulder, and secured by an exceptionally elaborate dragon-form clasp. The adoption of this new mode of wearing the monastic robe required some form of fastening device, and contemporary sculptures display a remarkable variety of solutions (see literature and auction comparisons below).
The clasp on the present figure is considerably more ingenuitive. It takes the form of a descending dragon with its head raised, grasping between its teeth a looped cord attached to the hem of the robe. This playful detail provides a striking contrast to the Buddha’s serene and immobile bearing, while transforming the rigid limestone into the suggestion of layered, weighty fabric. Although apparently unique in its function as a robe clasp, dragons were common ornamental motifs in earlier Buddhist sculpture, often appearing at the apex or base of mandorlas or between a central Buddha and attendant bodhisattvas (see a stele with Maitreya and attendant bodhisattvas, Northern Wei dynasty, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 19.16). By the Northern Qi period, however, the format of monumental Buddhist statuary had changed and the mandorla was increasingly omitted. One may therefore amusingly surmise that, deprived of the customary setting in which to display his skill in carving ornamental dragons, the sculptor instead chose to incorporate one into the fastening of the robe.
The present figure, like other comparable examples from the period, is further distinguished by finely articulated folds that cascade across the surface of the garment. In this respect, it shows close stylistic affinity with a group of sculptures excavated in 1996 at the Longxing Temple site in Qingzhou, Shandong Province, now preserved in the Qingzhou Municipal Museum. See a closely related stone standing figure of Buddha, 78.5 cm high, and a stone figure of an attendant Bodhisattva, 64 cm high, illustrated in Huaqing Wang (ed.), Shandong Qingzhou Longxingsi chutu Fojiao zaoxiang zhan (Buddhist Sculptures: New Discoveries from Qingzhou, Shandong Province), Hong Kong, 2001, p. 172-173, no. 19, and p. 264-265, no. 61.
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related figure of a standing Buddha Shakyamuni, possibly Northern Qi dynasty, dated to the late 6th century, 161.9 cm high, in the Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri, object number 182:1919.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Bonhams New York, 19 March 2018, lot 8037
Price: USD 106,250 or approx. EUR 125,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A fine painted marble torso of Buddha, Late Northern Qi-Sui dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling of the garments and related pin issuing a fan shaped fold. Note the smaller size (45.7 cm) and missing head.
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