CHINA
Northern Qi Dynasty, 550 – 577 CE
Limestone
71cm H

The torso has a subtle plastic quality and coherence, although the head, feet and the once raised left hand are missing. A pleated robe flows around the loose-looking body and emphasizes the lines of the pelvis and legs, which are framed by the falling long sleeves. The lines of the right arm appear extremely graceful and merge into the downwardly bent hand, which grasps a corner of the robe with a light gesture. The robe was probably painted red, which is still indicated by traces of paint.

The light, completely wrinkle-free Buddha robe seems to lie on the body like a wet cloth. In China, this style was called “coming out of the water” (chu shui). It goes back to the North Indian models of Mathurā and Sāmāth, where early centres of Buddhist art existed in the 4th and 5th centuries.

Such body-hugging sculptures have been repeatedly discovered in recent decades during excavations of former temple sites in Shandong Province (Return of the Buddha, 82). The sculpture is similar to the unusual torso of a standing Buddha from the Qingzhou hoard of the same period, in which the anatomy of the body is even more prominent (Return of the Buddha, p. 183).

Comparative pieces: Return of the Buddha, p. 183. Masterpieces, 98 – 111. Stiftung DKM, Linien stiller Schönheit, 2008, 124 – 125.

Norbert Deuchert, 2008