China, 550-577. Depicted with an alluringly peaceful countenance, downcast eyes and a benevolent smile. The figure outstretches now-lost hands over which drape the billowing sleeves of his monastic robes, covering both shoulders and rendered simply in descending rows of graceful W-shaped folds. Surrounded by a radiating aureole formed of gently curving vertical lines and surmounted by a halo of lotus petals.Provenance: From a French private estate. Condition: Extensive weathering, erosion, losses including both hands, pitting, remnants of polychrome pigments and ancient gilt, small old fills. Two sections of the lower border of the stele have been re-attached a long time ago. Good natural grown patina.Dimensions: Height 78 cm (incl. base) and 67 cm (excl. base)Mounted on a modern base. (2)The iconography of this stele was quite prevalent during the Northern Dynasties period and can be seen in a number of comparable stele including one in the Detroit Institute of Arts, illustrated in Chinese Art in Overseas Collections: Buddhist Sculpture, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1990, p. 67, no. 62, where it is dated Sui dynasty; and two others dated Eastern Wei, illustrated by S. Matsubara, Chugoku bukkyo chokokushi ron (The Path of Buddhist Sculpture), vol. 1, Early Six Dynasties, Tokyo, 1995, pl. 286 a and b. The sculptures discovered in a large cache at the Longxing Temple, Qingzhou, Shandong, in 1996, also included stele of Northern Wei to Northern Qi date that have the same iconography. See, Masterpieces of Buddhist Statuary from Qingzhou City, The National Museum of Chinese History, Qingzhou Municipal Museum, Beijing, 1999, pp. 56-73. In all of these, Buddha Shakyamuni is shown standing on a small plinth flanked by two bodhisattvas, most likely Avalokitesvara and Samantabhadra, the two most closely associated with Shakyamuni.The present figure shows the more rounded face and the simply defined, light, clinging robe of the Northern Qi style, which was influenced by Gupta sculpture. For a detailed discussion of the drastic change in artistic style between the preceding Northern Wei dynasty (386-535CE) and the Northern Qi characteristics of the present lot, see Angela Falco Howard et al., Chinese Sculpture (New York: Yale University Press and Foreign Languages Press, 2006), 274: “Under the influence of the Gupta style (300-600) of India ... lotus-like eyes and voluptuous lips gracing elegant, sensitively modeled torsos became an alternative to the prevailing aesthetic... [exhibiting] more naturalistic and fuller body forms, embellished with unobtrusive and elegant surface patterns.”Literature comparison: Other examples which share these characteristically Northern Qi rounded and full features and the very simply rendered, water-like flowing attire of the present lot are published in Matsubara Saburo, Chugoku Bukkyo Chokoku Shiron (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 1995); specifically: the figure of an arhat in the collection of the Cleveland Museum, 450; the figure of a standing Buddha in the Nezu Museum, 493; and the figure of the seated Buddha in the Victoria and Albert Museum, 490. For a closely related stone stele of Buddha Shakyamuni, see Imperial China - The living past, p.95, no. 72.Auction result comparison: Compare with a related but larger figure at Bonhams San Francisco in Fine Asian Works of Art and Paintings on 19 December 2016, lot 8198, sold for USD 47,500. Compare also with a related stele, of smaller size but with the flanking bodhisattvas still preserved, at Christie's New York in Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art on 13-14 September 2018, lot 1133, sold for USD 62,500.北齊釋迦牟尼石碑 中國,550-577年。釋迦面相豐潤,雙眼低斂,稍稍內收的唇角,蘊含著親切的笑意。石像圓肩寬胸,雙手丟失,衣裙覆蓋雙肩,刻劃洗鍊流暢。背光的雕飾富麗精美,疏朗的火焰紋和花瓣紋相結合,由柔和的垂直線彎曲而成,極具裝飾之美。 來源:法國私人收藏 品相:大面積風化、侵蝕,包括雙手的損失,多色顏料和古代金彩的殘物,小的舊時填料。石碑下邊界的兩個部分很久以前已經重新安裝。 良好的自然生長的包漿。 尺寸:含底座高78 厘米,不含底座厘米 現代底座。 拍賣結果比較:一件相似但更大的石像見舊金山邦瀚斯Fine Asian Works of Art and Paintings 拍場2016年12月19日lot 8198, 售價USD 47,500; 另一尊稍小但菩薩相伴的石像見紐約佳士得Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art 拍場2018年9月13-14日,lot 1133, 售價USD 62,500。