Artwork Page for Stele with Sakyamuni and Bodhisattvas

Details / Information for Stele with Sakyamuni and Bodhisattvas

Stele with Sakyamuni and Bodhisattvas

537

China, Hebei province, Eastern Wei dynasty

(534-550)
Medium
limestone
Measurements
Overall: 77.5 x 44.4 cm (30 1/2 x 17 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1914.567
Public Domain
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Location
241C Chinese Buddhist Sculptures
Print
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Did You Know?

Traces of polychrome paints remaining in the interstices of the carving, particularly on the foliate carving around Shakyamuni, suggest the stele was originally brightly colored.

Description

According to the inscription, this stele was commissioned in 537 by Yuan'ning, prince of the Gaoping branch of the imperial Wei family, in memory of his deceased consort, in the hope that it would bring her to the Western paradise. It was carved by one of the finest craftsmen in the Eastern Wei capital of Ye in Hebei province.

Here, the Buddha's robe shows a careful arrangement of patterned drapery (large U-shaped folds and scallop-shaped folds at the hem), combining linear rhythms with an ordered symmetry. Soaring flames edge the mandorla (almond-shaped halo), echoing the linear eloquence of Chinese painting.
Brown limestone sculpture depicting Sakyamuni Buddha flanked by two deities half his size standing in front of a mandorla, a pointed oval halo. He and the deities wear robes draped in "U"-shaped folds, hold out their hands, and have faint smiles with their hair pulled up in buns, save for the deity on our right whose head has broken off. A halo and circle with foliage patterns surrounds Sakyamuni's head, transitioning to flame-like patterns.

Stele with Sakyamuni and Bodhisattvas

537

China, Hebei province, Eastern Wei dynasty (534-550)

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