A CHINESE LIMESTONE STELE OF A BODHISATTVA

A CHINESE LIMESTONE STELE OF A BODHISATTVA
SUI DYNASTY

The figure carved in high relief, depicted standing with the right hand by the waist holding an indistinct attribute, the face with a serene expression and downcast eyes, wearing a stylised robe folded across the waist and looped over the right shoulder, adorned with a beribboned headdress and a necklace centred with a pendant, the stone with a deep beige patina, together with a metal stand, the base with a paper label reading 'Eskenazi London C4850', 38.5cm. (2)

Provenance: formerly the collection of Bouasse-Lebel, Paris; with Jean-Claude Moreau-Gobard, Paris, 18th July 1977; later with Eskenazi Ltd., London.

A number of features seen in this stele associate it with the artistic production in Shaanxi province during the Sui dynasty. The large size of the head in relation to the body, the face's squared jaw and the well-defined eyebrows and lips are all typical stylistic elements, as well as the upright stance of the figure and the arrangement of the clothing and jewellery. A related example is illustrated in René-Yvon Lefebvre d'Argencé, Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage Collection, no.76; and other examples are in Osvald Sirén, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, vol.3, pls.265, 266A, 267A and 268B. Further comparables with similar stylistic elements are the figure of Guanyin in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated in Alan Priest, Chinese Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pl.LVII; a smaller figure in the University Museum, Philadelphia, published in Osvald Sirén, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, pl.314A; and a fragment of a related figure in the Detroit Institute of Arts, included in Hai-wai yi-chen/Chinese Art in Overseas Collections: Buddhist Sculpture, pl.77.

隋 石雕菩薩立像
來源：巴黎Bouasse-Lebel舊藏，1977年7月18日巴黎Jean-Claude Moreau-Gobard，其後成為倫敦埃斯肯納齊舊藏。