拍賣筆記 vol.181 蘇富比香港：北齊 大理石雕彩繪佛坐像龕 - An extremely rare painted marble niche of a seated Buddha, Northern Qi dynasty

北齊 大理石雕彩繪佛坐像龕

PROPERTY FROM THE MQ COLLECTION | 莫勸齋珍藏

Session begins in

May 7, 10:45 AM CST

Estimate

500,000 - 1,500,000 HKD

Description

43.5 cm

來源

倫敦佳士得1989年12月11日，編號246

倫敦佳士得1997年12月1日，編號204

出版

《如是我見：莫勸齋藏中國古代雕刻》，台北，2015年，頁34-41，編號04

龕內雕坐佛一尊，佛首肉髻低圓，面頰豐潤，五官集中，彎眉細目，寬鼻小口，神貌安詳可掬；佛身偏袒右肩，結跏趺坐，施禪定印，佛衣下襬翻於足踝交盤處。開龕呈圓拱形，雙道龕楣，上楣平闊，下楣突起，楣尾收作渦卷形。龕內壁略作弧圓，有彩繪遺留，色跡斑駁，遺韻鮮明。龕側保留裁切鑿痕，石材未加打磨，可銜接砌磚。龕體後側下方突出，用以承載磚牆結構，形成穩固楔榫，此工法常見於佛寺牆面元件鑲嵌。

本龕像自成一格，無論形制、尺寸、材質、施作工法，均與河北幽居寺塔底層坐佛龕像群如出一轍。幽居寺為北齊皇室興建，由官寺定國寺僧標禪師開創，後於趙郡王高叡（536-561年）擴寺時於寺院中心增立佛塔。《靈壽縣誌》有載，「北齊趙郡王高叡，歷選太行勝概，得朱山之陽，建祁林寺（即幽居寺）。置僧舍二百餘間，擇行僧二千餘眾居之。」又據《趙郡王高叡修寺碑》，天保七年（556年），高叡造幽居寺塔漢白玉石主尊三佛。

可比一龕，高46公分，各細節均與本龕極似，現藏並展覽於慈山寺佛教藝術博物館，藏品編號2017.62。足踝處佛衣下襬制式亦可比幽居寺主尊三佛，天保七年造，圖見西林孝浩，〈曹仲達絵画様式の復元〉，《立命館言語文化研究》，2018年，頁129-160，圖7a、7b、7c。另參考一大理石雕佛三尊龕像，據銘文，為北齊天保八年（557年）造，開龕手法、紋飾雕刻亦與本件甚似，現藏大阪市立美術館，展覽並錄於《山口コレクション中国彫刻》，大阪，2013年，圖版035，頁76。

An extremely rare painted marble niche of a seated Buddha, Northern Qi dynasty

Provenance

Christie's London, 11th December 1989, lot 246.

Christie's London, 1st December 1997, lot 204.

Literature

The MQ Collection, As I Have Seen: Chinese Ancient Sculpture, Taipei, 2015, pp. 34-41, cat. no. 04.

Catalogue Note

Masterfully carved with a seated Buddha within a niche and preserved with its original pigments, the current piece is an exceptionally rare example of its type. With a tenon-like projection on the reverse, the niche would once have been fitted into the wall of a temple – a typical construction technique for Buddhist imagery.

The size, execution, and material of the current niche are closely comparable to a group of Buddhist niches from the base tier of the Youju Temple Pagoda, Hebei province. Constructed for the Northern Qi court, the Youju Temple was founded by the monk Biao of Dingguo Monastery, and later expanded under Prince Gao Rui of Zhao Commandery (536-561). According to the Gazetteer of Lingshou County, "Prince Gao Rui of the Northern Qi selected the southern slope of Mount Zhu among the scenic areas of the Taihang Mountains to build Qilin Temple (Youju Temple), establishing over 200 monk residences and housing more than 2,000 monks." An inscription on a stele commissioned by Prince Gao Rui also records that the Temple, with a ‘Buddhist triad’ group, was created in the seventh year of the Tianbao (Wenxuan) reign (556).

Compare a closely related niche, measuring 46 cm in height, currently preserved and on display at Tsz Shan Monastery Buddhist Art Museum, Hong Kong, no. 2017.62. The treatment of the hems around the ankles is also similar to those at the Youju Temple, dated to the seventh year of the Tianbao (Wenxuan) reign, the latter illustrated in Nishimura Takahiro, ‘Reconstructing the Painting Style of Cao Zhongda’, Ritsumeikan Journal of Language and Culture Studies, 2018, pp. 129–160, pls 7a, 7b, and 7c. Compare also a marble ‘Buddhist triad’ niche with an inscription dated to the eighth year of the Tianbao (Wenxuan) reign (557), carved with a similar technique and design, preserved in the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, Osaka, and illustrated in The Yamaguchi Collection: Chinese Sculpture, Osaka, 2013, pl. 035, p. 76.