|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
Standing bodhisattva
Sui dynasty (581–619)
Limestone with gilding and pigments
H. 53 1/2 in. (136 cm)
Excavated at Longxingsi, Qingzhou, Shandong Province,1996
Qingzhou City Museum
|
|
|
|
The bodhisattva is one of several that had been ceremonially interred in a pit adjacent to the former Longxingsi (Temple of the Rising Dragon) in the twelfth century, probably because they were no longer in use. Excavated in 1996, it is an extremely well-preserved and beautiful example of the art of sculpture in northeastern China in the late sixth century. The bodhisattva has a rounded face with delicate features and an elegant columnar form. He wears a bodice and a small cap over a long sarong-like undergarment as well as profuse jewelry. The openwork tiara, which is partially damaged, is formed at the sides by pearl clusters similar to those found in the pendants of a necklace excavated from a late-sixth-century tomb. Chains consisting of differing types of pearl clusters, which also parallel the excavated necklace, fall to either side of a central panel decorated with nine plaques. Such elaborate jewelry becomes common in Chinese Buddhist art in the mid-sixth century and is found in both the northeast and the northwest.
|
|
|
|
|
|
