A CARVED LIMESTONE HEAD OF A BODHISATTVA, SUI DYNASTY

Collection of Ernest (d. 1964) and Charlotte Goldsmith.

Collection of Stephen E. Goldsmith (1944-2009), and thence by descent.

來源

Ernest (1964年逝) 及 Charlotte Goldsmith 伉儷收藏

Stephen E. Goldsmith (1944-2009) 收藏，此後家族傳承

Sumptuously carved with fleshy cheeks, broad arched brows and a large straight nose that leads the eye down to the plump lips, these features exemplify a crucial sculptural transition from the linear and structured depictions of bodhisattvas of the preceding Northern Qi (550-577) and Northern Zhou (557-581) periods to the fully rounded and fleshy forms of the Tang dynasty (618-907). Its oval face and idealized expression, which exude deep spirituality, display an early attempt at naturalism, while its richly carved crown with floral forms is reminiscent of the stylized aesthetic of the preceding dynasties.

The Sui dynasty unified China in 589 after a long period of cultural, political and military fragmentation, which began with the fall of the Han dynasty in 220 AD. Buddhism was seen as a means to unite the empire and consolidate dynastic power, hence Sui rulers began the construction of major religious buildings and commissioned Buddhist images. While stylistically Sui sculptures continue in the traditions established in the preceding dynasties, 'characteristics that were latent in the two preceding styles were brought to full blossom by Sui carvers' (Angela F. Howard, Chinese Sculpture, New Haven, 2006, p. 290). Osvald Sirén in ‘Chinese Marble Sculptures of the Transition Period’, BMFEA 1940, no. 12, p. 490, states that 'The observation of nature seems indeed to have increased as well as the mastery of the sculptural form'. The present head is characterized by features that harmonize the Sui dynasty’s emergent trend toward naturalism with the inherited idealized forms that conventionally conveyed the purity of Buddhist subjects. 

Excavations at Qingzhou, Shandong province have yielded Northern Qi and Sui limestone standing bodhisattvas, detailed with polychrome pigments and gilding, that similarly bear full, oval faces crowned by intricate diadems with petaled lobes, pendent tassels, and articulated bands, suggesting a geographic and cultural origin for this style of carving; for a Sui dynasty figure of Guanyin from Longxing si, Qingzhou, see Denise Patry Leidy and Donna Strahan, Wisdom Embodied: Chinese Buddhist and Daoist Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, fig. 13; for a related Northern Qi bodhisattva, see Buddhist Sculpture: New Discoveries from Qingzhou, Shandong Province, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 2001, cat. no. 69.