An extremely rare large inscribed bronze figure of Shakyamuni Buddha Western Wei dynasty, dated 539 | 西魏大統五年 銅釋迦牟尼佛坐像

Nakanishi Bunzo, Kyoto.

James Freeman, Kyoto. 

Collection of Norman Kurland.

Eskenazi Ltd., London.

中西文三，京都

James Freeman，京都

Norman Kurland 收藏

埃斯卡納齊，倫敦

This important and unusually large inscribed votive bronze sculpture is one of only three known dated examples from the Western Wei dynasty. Only two of them are known aside from the Swergold example: one dated to the first year of the Datong reign, now at the Tianjin Museum, illustrated in Saburo Matsubara, A History of Chinese Buddhist Sculpture, Tokyo, 1995, pl. 297c, the other dated to the fifth year of Datong, now at the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrated Matsubara, ibid., pl. 296. It depicts Shakyamuni Buddha seated in virasana on a waisted Sumeru throne raised on a four-legged pedestal. The right hand is held in abhaya mudra and the left hand in varada mudra. The intricately articulated robe covers the shoulders and falls in waves over the body and the front of the throne, the dynamism of the fabric's numerous folds alluding to the magnanimous energy within the divine sitter. This sculpture is a superb work of art which testifies to the enduring influence of Northern Wei (386-534) visual traditions on Western Wei (535-557) artistic practices, displaying a more exaggerated version of the Northern Wei style, with the body engulfed by cascading drapery laid out symmetrically. Cast in the fifth year of the latter dynasty, the superbly cast sculpture presents the iconic sculptural form of pointed cascading drapery and tied sash that is considered a more distinct sinicised style that occurs in the early sixth century at the Longmen Cave temples opened by the Northern Wei. This more sinicised style is first seen in Yungang Cave temples in the 490s, Cave 5, 6, as illustrated in Zhongguo meishu guanji: Diaosu bian 10: Yungang shiku diaoke zhongguo [Complete works of Chinese Art, Sculpture, vol. 10: Yungang cave temple carvings]. Beijing, 1988, pp. 32-71. A similar depiction of a seated Buddha in stone, dated to 540, is illustrated in Matsubara, op cit., pl. 259B. 

The inscription on the base records that the present sculpture was commissioned by Monk Huile of the Yongchuan Temple. It may be translated as:

"On the second day of the sixth month of the jiwei year, the fifth year of Datong (corresponding to 539), Monk Huile of Yongchuan Temple commissioned this image of Shakyamuni Buddha in the hope that the Emperor, seven generations of ancestors, all relatives and all sentient beings in this world might live serenely in the Buddhist universe".

此尊偉碩非凡，塑釋迦牟尼佛跪坐須彌壇上，下設四腳高臺，銘文遍佈。右手施無畏印，左手結與願印，衣帶流暢隨身，裙裾垂掛座前，褶紋層疊起伏，恰似佛法無邊。此像藝術造詣高超，寬衣博帶，左右對分，可證西魏（535-557年）造像受北魏（386-34年）潛移默化，青出於藍。

西魏紀年像更是鳳毛麟角，目前僅發現兩例，即天津市藝術博物館藏大統元年像，圖載於松原三郎，《中国仏教彫刻史研究》，東京，1995年，圖版297c及芝加哥美術館藏大統五年像，出處同上，圖版296。雖造於西魏大統五年，其垂褶、結帶皆酷似六世紀初北魏龍門石窟所見漢化風格。此類漢化風格初現雲岡石窟，490年代，第5、6窟，錄於《中國美術全集．雕塑編10：雲岡石窟雕刻》，北京，1988年，頁32-71。比較一石雕佛坐像，540年造，錄於松原三郎，出處同上，東京，1995年，圖版259B。