A gilt-bronze standing figure of Shakyamuni Buddha
Various properties
A gilt-bronze standing figure of Shakyamuni Buddha

Unified Silla Dynasty (8th - 9th century)

Details
A gilt-bronze standing figure of Shakyamuni Buddha
Unified Silla Dynasty (8th - 9th century)
Cast in the front with drapery falling from the chest to ankles in u-shaped folds and with a pair of elongated folds below the waist to indicate the legs of the figure; the back hollow with two pegs at the edges of the shoulders
6 ½ in. (16.5 cm.) high
With wood box
Literature
Yamato Bunkakan, ed., Tokubetsuten higashi ajia no kondobutsu airashiki hotoketachi--Chugoku Kankoku Nippon (Special exhibition of gilt-bronze Buddhist sculptures of East Asia--Appealing Buddhist sculptures of China, Korea and Japan), exh. cat. (Nara: Yamato Bunkakan, 1999), pl. 44.
Exhibited
Yamato Bunkakan, Nara, "Tokubetsuten higashi ajia no kondobutsu airashiki hotoketachi--Chugoku, Kankoku, Nippon" (Special exhibition of gilt-bronze Buddhist sculptures of East Asia--Appealing Buddhist sculptures of China, Korea and Japan), 1999. 10.2--11.14

Brought to you by

Takaaki Murakami
Takaaki Murakami

Lot Essay

The Unified Silla period from the late seventh through the ninth centuries was one of political stability when an international style held sway throughout East Asia. This shakyamuni shown here was cast with an entirely open back which is a characteristic of the later part of the Unified Silla period gilt-bronze figures.

More from AN INQUIRING MIND: AMERICAN COLLECTING OF JAPANESE AND KOREAN ART

View All
View All