Beschreibung:

A VERY RARE DATED GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF THE SEATED BUDDHA INSCRIBED WITH A DATE CORRESPONDING TO 508, NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY Shown seated in varisana atop a square plinth, with hands in varamudra , wearing crisply cast robes falling in parallel folds around the body and in a cascade of folds in front, with long face and nose of triangular section, the curls of the hair indicated by a checkered pattern which continues onto the rounded usnisa , the hollow-cast body with a rectangular aperture in back above the remains of an angular attachment loop, with a small rectangular slit on the sides of the bottom of the base and an inscription incised on the back; together with a flame-form gilt-bronze mandorla cast in low relief with seven Buddhas seated around a central lotus blossom above a rectangular aperture flanked by foliate scroll, all surrounded by flames in the outer field Buddha 8¼ in. (21 cm.) high; mandorla 7¾ in. (19.7 cm.) high (2)