Lot 731. An important and very rare stone Buddhist stele, Northern Wei dynasty (AD 386-534), dated by inscription to AD 457; 16 1⁄8 in. (41 cm.) high, softwood stand. Estimate USD 200,000 - USD 300,000. Price realised USD 781,200. © Christie's 2022

The Buddha is shown seated in dhyanasana with hands held in dhyanamudra, wearing robes that fall in heavy folds, and his sensitively carved face bears a contemplative expression, beneath the hair and usnisha carved with a chevron-like whorl pattern. The figure is flanked by two smaller acolytes and backed by a tall aurole carved with bands decorated with acolytes and diminutive Buddhas. The reverse is carved with the birth, bath, and first seven steps of the Buddha, above a dedicatory inscription, followed by a date, corresponding to AD 457.

Provenance: Mizuno Tsurunosuke Collection, Osaka, early twentieth century.
Dan Takuma (1858-1932) Collection, Japan.
Important private Japanese collection, prior to 1994, and thence by descent within the family.

Literature: Osvald Sirén, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, vol. 1, London, 1925, pl. 116-7.
Osvald Sirén, Histoire des arts anciens de la Chine III La Sculpture, Paris, 1930, pl. 47 C & D.
Osvald Sirén, Chinese Art, London, 1935, pl. 18 B & C.
Stone Buddha, Osaka City Museum, Osaka, 1953, no. 1.
Bijutsu Card 14, Bijutsu Shuppansha, Tokyo, 1954, no. 928.
Suzuki Kei and Matsubara Saburo eds., Summary of Asian Art history – vol.2, Tokyo, 1957, no.37.
Takashimaya Department Store at Nihonbashi, Chinese Ancient Sculpture, 1959, no. A.
Mizuno Seiichi, Bronze and Stone Sculpture of China, Tokyo, 1960, nos. 36-37.
Matsubara Saburo, Research on the History of Chinese Buddhist Sculpture, Tokyo, 1961, fig. 5 and nos.12-13.
Sekai Bijutsu Zenshu 14 - China- Six dynasties, Tokyo, 1963, no. 48.
Kobijutsu 10, Sansaisha, Tokyo, 1965, p. 24.
Osaka City museum, Chinese Art 5000 Years, Osaka, 1966, no. 2-12.
Ancient Chinese Art - The Origin of Japanese Art, Kagawa, 1968, F18.
Mizuno Seiichi, Chinese Buddhist Art, Tokyo, 1968, nos. 31-32.
Nagahiro Toshio ed., Asiatic Art in Japanese Collections, vol. 3, Sculpture, 1968, no. 23.
Tokyo National Museum, Oriental Art - Asian Gallery Opening Memorial Exhibition, Tokyo, 1969, no. 57.
Yamato Bunka 51, Yamato Bunkakan, Nara, 1969, no.1.
Matsubara Saburo ed., Complete History of Asian Art, Tokyo, 1972, no. 216.
Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, Chinese Art from Six Dynasties, Osaka, 1975, no. 3-65.
Tanaka Yoshiyasu ed., Nihon no Bijutsu 8 – No.159, Birth of Buddha, 1979, no. 26.
Matsubara Saburo, Chinese Art - Sculpture, Tokyo, 1982, p. 132.
Osaka City Museum, Chinese Buddhist Sculptures, Osaka, 1984, no. 10, p. 28.
Tokyo National Museum, Museum 432, Tokyo, 1987.
Jin Shen in Hai wai ji Gong Yai cang li dai fo xiang: zhen pin ji nian tu jian (Catalogue of Treasures of Buddhist Sculpture in Overseas Collections including Hong Kong and Taiwan), Shanxi, 2007, p. 6.

Exhibited: Tokyo, Takashimaya Department Store at Nihonbashi, Chinese Ancient Sculpture, 28 Apr – 10 May 1959.
Osaka, Osaka City Museum, Chinese Art 5000 Years, 15 October – 23 November 1966.
Kagawa Prefecture, Kagawa Prefectural Cultural Hall, Ancient Chinese Art - The Origin of Japanese Art, 1968.
Tokyo, Tokyo National Museum, Oriental Art - Asian Gallery Opening Memorial Exhibition, 1969.
Osaka, Osaka City Museum, Chinese Art from Six Dynasties, 10 October - 9 November, 1975.
Osaka, Osaka City Museum, Chinese Buddhist Sculptures, 6 October -11 November, 1984.

Note: The exceptional and important stone stele belongs to a small group of Northern Wei Buddhist stone steles depicting the Buddha with acolytes on one side and scenes of the Buddha’s life on the reverse. The upper frieze depicts the Buddha being born from his mother’s side. The lower frieze depicts the Buddha’s bath, showing the Buddha standing facing forward surrounded by two kneeling serpent kings, each intertwined by serpents that wrap around the king and writhe above his head. To the right of this scene is a depiction of the Buddha’s first steps.

The imagery derives from Indian prototypes. Compare, for instance, a Kushana-period stone sculpture of the Buddha’s first bath, 2nd century AD, in the Government Museum, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India, where the Buddha is similarly depicted flanked by serpent kings. In the Kushana example, the serpent kings are not shown accompanied by serpents, as they are in the present sculpture.

A similar but slightly smaller stone stele of Buddha, also dated to AD 455 of the Northern Wei dynasty, is illustrated by Jin Shen in Hai wai ji Gong Yai cang li dai fo xiang: zhen pin ji nian cu jian (Catalogue of Treasures of Buddhist Sculpture in Overseas Collections including Hong Kong and Taiwan), Shanxi, 2007, p. 3. The reverse of this stele is carved with four friezes depicting the latter part of the Buddha’s life ending with the Buddha’s death, or parinirvana, while the present stele depicts the earlier part of the Buddha’s life beginning with the Buddha’s birth. Also illustrated, p. 10, is another stone stele of Buddha, dated to the Northern Wei dynasty AD 472 of the Northern Wei dynasty also depicting friezes of the Buddhas life on the reverse and is in the collection of the Museum Yamata Bunkakan.

The decoration on the plinth on the front of the sculpture also derives from Indian prototypes, such as the red sandstone Kushan-period example dated to AD 82, depicting a seated figure of Buddha flanked by attendants in the Kimball Art Museum, AP 1986.06. On the present sculpture, the relief panel on the throne is carved with two attendants standing on either side of a simplified pillar surmounted by a wheel, which is then flanked by two lions in either corner, all symbolizing the Buddha’s teachings and royal heritage. The relief panel on the Kimball example is carved with similar decoration, except the pillar and wheel are stylized with different decoration and the two attendants are facing forward holding flywhisks.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 25 march 2022