Marble Figure of a Standing Buddha, China, Northern Qi/Sui Dynasty

China, probably Northern Qi/Sui Dynasty, 6-7th century
Marble, on ebonised base
Approx. 98 cm. high (the figure), 101.5 cm. high incl. base

PROVENANCE:
English collection, formed since the 1970s

This large marble figure shows the Buddha standing wearing a long monastic robe, which clings closely to the body. The serene face is shown with heavy-lidded closed eyes and pursed lips suggesting a smile above a pinched chin; the hair is arranged in tight curls over a domed ushnisha.

The missing right hand was probably raised, in abhaya mudra (fearlessness) while the missing left hand was lowered in varada mudra (generosity). The figure sits atop a circular lotus-leaf base with a twisting flower at the back and terminates in a twisting cone at the bottom, for insertion into a base.

The present figure probably represents Buddha Amitabha, the supreme Buddha of the Pure Land (Ching tu) sect. Images of this Buddha were popular during the Northern Qi (550-577 AD) and Sui Dynasty (581-618) periods and large free-standing figures carved in white marble were produced in a number of active workshops in west Central Hopei.

For related standing figures of the Buddha from the Northern Qi/Sui period carved in marble, see the Amitabha in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (inv. no. 923.18.13) and another from the early Sui period illustrated in Hackin et al (op. cit., pl. 38). See also a smaller figure of a standing Buddha, carved in a similar crystallised white marble, which sold in Vienna in 2023 (Galerie Zacke, 11 Oct 2023, lot 167).

RELATED LITERATURE:
L. Sickman and A. Soper, 'The Art and Architecture of China'. London, 1968, pp. 53-61, pl. 45; J. Hackin, O. Siren, L. Warner, P. Pelliot, 'Studies in Chinese Art and some Indian Influences'. London, 1938, pp. 29-33, pl. 36 and pl. 38