26 cm. （10 1/4 in.） high

Sun Su An Collection ­- Property from an Important Japanese Private Collection

Provenance：
Hara Sankei （1868-1939） Collection, Japan

Hara Tomitaro （原富太郎） （1868–1939）, known by the pseudonym Hara Sankei, was a silk trader, politician and art collector who designed the Sankei-en （三溪園 Sankei Garden）, a traditional Japanese-style garden in Naka Ward, Yokohama, Japan, which opened in 1906.

Compare an example of a carved limestone seated figure of Shakyamuni Buddha （accession no.59-47） dated to AD 494, in the collection of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City. The aforementioned example was formerly in the collections of K. Moriya, Kyoto, and was subsequently sold by Kochukyo Co., Ltd., Tokyo, to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in 1959 under the William Rockhill Nelson Trust. It has been exhibited at Gods of Asia, Asia House Gallery, New York, May-July 1962, and again at the Oriental Art Exhibition, Washington University, St. Louis, January-March 1966. It is related to the present lot in terms of similar iconography of the nine miniature Buddha/devotees within a flaming mandorla, except the museum example is worked on a raised pedestal, flanked by a pair of Bodhisattva, and the hands of the main figure is held in abhaya mudra rather than dhyana mudra.

See also another carved limestone stele of a Buddha seated in dhyanasana with similar lotus halo （accession no.67.255） dated by inscription to AD 533, Northern Wei dynasty, gifted by Mr and Mrs Alan Hartman to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 1967. The dated inscription at the lower front and sides of the stele partially translates as： “on the 15th day, guiyu in the cycle, of the second month jiwei in the cycle, of the second year of the Yongxing （AD 533） of the Great Wei, guichou in the cycle, the Buddhist devotee Xie Baoming strove to raise donations together with many other contributors, in the number of one thousand and three, to have one stone image made, over four chi high, on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor, his own ancestors for the past seven generations, his living father, and his dependents...

The same subject matter also appears in different media, such as gilt bronze sculptures, which also reside in important museums around the world. Refer to a gilt bronze figure of a seated Shakyamuni Buddha （accession no.goutong000117N000000000） dated to the Northern Wei dynasty, first year of Tai He reign, corresponding to AD 477, in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Price estimate:
HKD: 1, 200, 000 - 1, 800, 000
USD: 153, 800 - 230, 800

Auction Result:
HKD: --