Lot 62. From the Alan and Simone Hartman collection. A carved limestone seated figure of Maitreya, Northern Wei Dynasty (386-535) or later; 61 x 54.3cm; 69 x 63 1/2 x 13 1/2 cm with base. Sold for US$32,000. © Bonhams 2001-2024

The seated cross-legged deity flanked to either side by seated lions each turning their heads upwards towards Maitreya who extends his (real) left hand to the lions head on his left and holds his right hand in tarjani mudra, the robes depicted in a schematic fashion with the folds cursorily cut into a flat, pattern-like arrangement that flow down the arms and body to the crossed legs, the slender angular head carved with aquiline nose, high arched brows, pendulous ears and all below a tall crown centered by a seated Amitabha Buddha.

Provenance: Parke-Bernet Galleries Inc., New York, 11-12 November 1938, lot 217
Sotheby Parke-Bernet Inc., New York, 1-2 June 1977, lot 370.

Note: This image of Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future, is typical of the Northern Wei style (386-534) as it developed at the Longmen cave complex during the fifth and sixth centuries. Located outside the Wei capital of Luoyang in Honan province, sculptural activities at Longmen lasted from approximately 500 to 750. This image displays a non-Chinese seated posture with legs crossed at the ankles. The torso is slender and elongated and the thin garment has been depicted in a schematic fashion with folds, scarves and hemlines organized into a flat, pattern-like arrangement typical of the Northern Wei style.

Another seated Maitreya figure of this type with guardian lions from the Fogg Art Museum was included in the China Institute exhibition and accompanying catalogue by Annette Juliano, Art of the Six Dynasties, New York, 1975, no. 50

See also Lung Men Shih K'u, Wenwu, 1961, pls. 23 and 24 for similar figures in situ at Longmen, Honan Province.

Bonhams. THE ALAN AND SIMONE HARTMAN COLLECTION THE INAUGURAL SALE, New York, 14 December 2023