Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

A CHINESE LIMESTONE 'BUDDHIST TRIAD' STELE
NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY

Carved in high relief, the Buddha seated in dhyanasana upon a lotus pedestal, dressed in long flowing robes draped in pleats and folds over the arms and down the front, the rounded face with downcast eyes and a meditative expression, the curly hair rising to a domed ushnisha, flanked by two bodhisattvas raised on stylised flowerheads, elevated on a rectangular plinth adorned with a large central lotus bloom between a pair of Buddhist lions, the sides depicting two kneeling acolytes holding small lotus buds, while the reverse is undecorated, approximately 40kg, 47cm x 33cm x 17cm.

Provenance: an English private collection formerly at Cliff Avenue, Cromer, Norfolk since the 1950s and thence by descent. Believed by the family to have been purchased from Margaret Jane Barclay (1861-1958) of Herne Close, Cromer, together with the entire contents of her house. Margaret's ancestor James Barclay (1708-66) established the Barclays banking dynasty.

Cf. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, no. S8w4 for a stele dated 543; see also The Journal of the Palace Museum, A Comparative Study of the Xiangtangshan Caves and Ye City Buddhist Sculptures from the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi Periods, 2020, iss.12, no.224, pp.22-26 for several closely related examples dated from Northern Wei dynasty to Northern Qi dynasty.

北魏 石灰岩佛菩薩三尊造像碑
來源：英國私人收藏，自 1950 年代起存放於英國諾福克郡克羅默的 Cliff Avenue，之後由其後人繼承。家族認為這件菩薩造像碑是當年從諾福克郡克羅默的Margaret Jane Barclay (1861-1958)，連同她大宅中的所有物品同時購入的。Margaret女士的祖先James Barclay (1708-66) 創建了英國Barclays銀行王朝。