A limestone seated figure of a Buddhist lion, Tang dynasty | 唐 石灰岩雕坐獅

Collection of George Eumorfopoulos (1863-1939), label.

Collection of Montague Meyer, label.

Sotheby's New York, 4th December 1985, lot 62.

尤莫弗普勒斯（1863-1939年）收藏，標籤

Montague Meyer 收藏，標籤

紐約蘇富比1985年12月4日，編號62

Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, no. D672, label.

Whitechapel Centenary Exhibition, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 2001.

Orangerie des Tuileries（杜樂麗橘園），巴黎，編號D672，標籤

《Whitechapel Centenary Exhibition》，白教堂美術館，倫敦，2001年

This powerfully modelled lion is a magnificent legacy of the high Tang era, remarkable for its naturalistic rendering and its poised yet fierce posture. Its muscles ripple beneath the skin, exemplifying the beast’s vigorous and nimble nature; its ferociousness is immediately grasped through the piercing eyes and the gaping mouth revealing the animal’s teeth. This sensitive modelling marks an important stylistic shift from the highly stylised and primitive depictions of lions of the preceding Northern Qi (550-577) and Sui (581-618) dynasties and displays the vitality and boldness of Tang sculptures.

The Tang dynasty saw an unprecedented blossoming of the arts, resulting from political and military stability and a general openness to foreign trade. Lions were among the most prized tributary items presented to the Tang court by emissaries from the western regions of India and Central Asia. After receiving a lion as tribute from Samarkand in 635, Emperor Taizong (598-649) is recorded to have commissioned a poem in its honour from the court poet Yu Shinan (558-638). Lions were sent from Samarkand, Khotan and as far as the Arabian Peninsula. 

Tang carvers and artists strived to successfully display the animal’s majestic savagery and bestial strength. A description of a lion painting by the 8th-century painter Wei Wutian exemplifies this trend: “When foreign countries presented lions to the court, he made paintings of them that were strikingly lifelike. Later, the lions would be returned to their homes, and only their paintings were kept; even so, whenever the pictures were unrolled, any other animal that caught sight of them would be terrified” (Alexander C. Soper, ‘T’ang Ch’ao Ming Hua Lu: Celebrated Painters of the T’ang Dynasty, by Chu Chung-hsuan of T’ang”, Artibus Asiae, XXI, 1958, p. 217).

No animal commanded greater respect and attention at the Tang court than the mighty lion. Ferocious and endowed with regal essence, the lion was revered for the powerful protective force it exudes, in addition to its role as a guardian figure and emblem of power. They also have had strong associations with Buddhism; the dharma is said to be spread through the lion's roar and they were frequently portrayed as the mount for the Manjushri Bodhisattva. With the growing popularity of the Buddhist religion during the Tang dynasty (618-907), pairs of lion figures were increasingly placed in front of Buddhist temple gates as guardian animals. Pairs of large stone lions were also found at the entrance to the imperial Tang mausoleums, see Ann Paludan, The Chinese Spirit Road: The Classical Tradition of Stone Tomb Statuary, New Haven, 1991, col. pl. 11 and pl. 126.

The present piece, more compact than those created with the function of guarding the spirit road, displays equally powerful and naturalistic modelling that represents the height of Tang period sculptural tradition. It is particularly rare and interesting to find a beribboned bell strapped around the lion’s neck, reflecting a drastic change in perception of the relationship between nature and man. In the preceding dynasties, animals were often depicted in unrestrained stances or in prowling positions, intending to illustrate their unbridled, untameable strength. However, in the Tang dynasty, this notion was replaced by an affirmation of man’s dominion over the natural world; wild beasts no longer claim equality with man. As seen in the present piece, the commonly untamed beast is collared and depicted in a rather restrained sitting position, symbolising its role to serve the will of man.

For Tang sculptures of lions housed in important museums, see a similar white marble lion, displaying an equally fierce demeanour, formerly in the collection of Dr Otto Burchard and now preserved in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (object no.: 46-85), illustrated in the exhibition catalogue The Arts of the T’ang Dynasty, Los Angeles, 1957, cat. no. 41; another example of smaller size from the collection of Alice Boney, illustrated ibid., cat. no. 43. Compare also a limestone example of smaller size, illustrated in Two Thousand Years of Chinese Sculpture, J.J. Lally & Co., 2008, cat. no. 14.

Sculptures of lions were also executed in other materials; see a puddingstone example, from the collection of C. T. Loo and now preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession no. 24.74), illustrated in Alan Priest, Chinese Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1944, cat. no. 35, pl. LXXVI. For examples sold at auction, see a large marble lion from the collection of Christian Humann and Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, sold at Christie’s New York, 17th March 2015, lot 16; and a black stone lion from the collection of Arthur M. Sackler, first sold at Christie's New York, 1st December 1994, lot 164 and again in these rooms, 1st April 2019, lot 3029.

石獅銳目尖齒，體型健碩，恢宏強壯，氣度不凡，標誌盛唐昌隆。其雕琢生動，栩栩如生，見證唐朝擺脫北齊（550-577年）至隋（581-618年）簡樸刻板的風尚，雕塑更趨果敢雄渾。

有唐一朝，天下太平，軍政穩定，造就藝文大興，利於對外貿印。從印度、中亞等西域地區來訪大唐之使，進貢華物以示好，當中有獅子等珍禽異獸。據錄，公元635年撒馬爾罕獻獅，唐太宗（598-649年）特命宮廷詩人虞世南（558-638年）。除撒馬爾罕外，于闐及遠至阿拉伯半島也有向大唐貢獅。

唐代匠人塑獅，力求神形兼備，情態逼真，威風凜凜，剛勁有力，盡顯王者風儀。盛唐畫師韋無忝，以畫鞍馬、異獸獨擅其名，據載其「曾見貌外國所獻獅，酷似其真。後獅子放歸本國，唯畫者在圖。時因觀覽，百獸見之皆懼」（參見 Alexander C. Soper，〈T'ang Ch'ao Ming Hua Lu: Celebrated Painters of the T'ang Dynasty, by Chu Chung-hsuan of T’ang〉，《Artibus Asiae》，卷XXI，1958年，頁217）。

獅子作為絲路外來文明的載體，經歷了移植、歸化到創新的過程，被唐人視為守衛者，願依其神力保佑太平，唐人更將帝王視爲人中獅加以崇拜。獅子與佛教亦有較深淵源，而在儒釋道三教昌盛的唐朝，獅子的文化地位和作用日趨明朗。唐代皇陵多存大型石獅塑像，太宗昭陵見一站獅例，體量稍大，肋骨凸顯與本品相類，現藏西安陝西歷史博物館，收錄於 Ann Paludan，《The Chinese Spirit Road: The Classical Tradition of Stone Tomb Statuary》，紐黑文，1991年，圖版11及126。

與守衛唐代帝陵的大型石獅不同，此件坐獅雖尺寸更小，但不減其盛唐鳳儀。最特別之處，在於獅子頸部佩戴項鈴，與前朝石雕動物不同，大部分猛獸雕塑都以非馴化之自然體態而呈現，以凸顯其凶猛無拘的形態。初唐時期帝陵蹲獅石雕大多不見胸前有繫鈴，只有宮廷中豢養的極少數的西域貢獅才會佩戴，這類貢獅數量十分稀少，但對中國獅子形象的形成具有重要的影響。至明清時期，中國獅子的形象在很多方面都體現了貢獅才有的特點。此石灰岩雕坐獅怒張其口，鉤爪鋸牙，雖頓覺來勢兇猛、令人卻步，但又端莊威嚴，盡顯大唐之盛世風範。

重要博物館收藏之唐代石雕獅像，見 Otto Burchard 博士舊藏現位於納爾遜．阿特金斯藝術博物館一例（館藏編號46-85），著錄於《The Arts of the T'ang Dynasty》，洛杉磯，1957年，編號41；另見同著錄中龐耐舊藏一例，編號43。類似但尺寸更小的石雕坐獅還見於《Two Thousand Years of Chinese Sculpture》，藍理捷，2008年，編號14。

以其他石材所雕之坐獅像，見盧芹齋舊藏一例，現藏於大都會藝術博物館（編號24.74），著錄於Alan Priest，《Chinese Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art》，紐約，1944年，編號36，圖版LXXVI。拍賣售出類似之例，見休曼及安思遞藏意一件，後售於紐約佳士得2015年3月17日，編號16；另賽克勒舊藏一件石雕坐獅，先後售於紐約佳士得1994年12月1日以及香港蘇富比2019年4月1日，編號3029。