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Ming Buddha browse these categories for related items... All Items: Antiques:Regional Art:Asian:Chinese:Sculpture: Pre 1492: item # 828930 Please refer to our stock # 1949 when inquiring.
Abhaya Asian Antiques G/F, North Flat, Lot 965 Peak Road West Cheung Chau, Hong Kong Tel/Fax 852-29847509 Guest Book $2200.USD/$16,000.HKD |
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| Very rare large Song to Early Ming Buddha constructed of adobe and sun baked clay. This piece has been in my personal collection for about 5 years, before that it had belonged to another private collector 10 years prior. It is a difficult piece to precisely date, but I will guarantee that this is no later than 15th CE. The previous owner claims this Buddha came from the Ningxia Autonomous Region and dates to the XiXia Empire (Tangut) 1038-1227 CE, personally I doubt that it is XiXia, which have a distinctly non Han appearance. The small mouth and expressive face seems to set this as being earlier than Ming, so this is a conservative dating. The materials used in its construction (clay mixed with straw and hard clay exterior) is typical of what is seen in Northern China (Gansu, Shaanxi and Ningxia) where the climate is extremely arid- a classic example would be the images seen in the famous Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang Gansu, which date back to 4 CE. A large number of small impressed Buddha plaque images with similar pigments surfaced on the market a few years back and are usually attributed as being Song, in my opinion, these all came from the same place. There has been some restoration to this piece (old and new). The upheld hand is a new repair, while the gold leaf on the torso was probably done quite a few years ago the gilt on the face looks to be more recent, while underneath the base has been patched up a bit, please view enlargements. I should add that it was common to repair Buddhist images over the centuries so some of the “embellishments” should be considered to be natural and “of the period” while others were just where it was “tarted up” to make it easier to sell. This is a very impressive and well proportioned Buddha which would make it a fine center piece for a Buddhist altar or collection. H: 43cm/16.9cm and W: 23cm/9in. | |||||||||||||||
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