A FINE AND RARE MARBLE TORSO OF MAITREYA Tang dynasty The powerful figure wearing voluminous robes elegantly draped over his wide shoulders and broad, muscular chest and cascading in deep folds over his pendant legs, falling to the sides of his seat and continuing down his back, the remains of his left hand resting on one thigh, the fragment of his right arm raised parallel to the neatly tied knot of his garment, the rolled collar at the neck once framing the now lost head, the worn white marble surface covered with patches of earthen encrustation. 31 1/2 x 19 1/2 x 14in (80 x 49.5 x 35.5cm) Provenance 唐 大理石菩薩身像 Provenance: Shirley Day, London, 1997 Maitreya, in Buddhist tradition, has two aspects. On one hand, he is a bodhisattva, residing in the Tushita heaven. However, at some time in the future, when the teachings of the historical Buddha Sakyamuni have decayed and been forgotten, he will descend from the Tushita Heaven into this world and attain enlightenment as a successor to the Historical Buddha. He will preach a new law and bring peace to the world as a universal ruler. This messianic aspect to the possible immanent arrival of Maitreya into the troubled world inspired several religious movements and political rebellions from the Six Dynasties to the Tang period. How the two aspects of Maitreya were depicted in sculpture also changed over time. As a bodhisattva, he was depicted by Northern Wei sculptors as a bejeweled Indian prince wearing a long scarf over his bare chest and a long dhoti around his legs either crossed in front of him or with the left leg parallel and resting on the pendant right leg when shown seated. With the revival of the Maitreya cult in the seventh century, he wears the same monk's robes as Sakyamuni, Amitabha and Vairocana Buddha; but, instead of sitting as they do with legs crossed in the posture of meditation, Maitreya sits with his legs pendant and knees apart. This is also the pose and dress that identities this impressive marble fragment as Maitreya, the Future Buddha. Perhaps the most striking feature of this marble fragment is its realistic portrayal of a seated figure revealed beneath drapery. The remains of his thick neck and developed pectoral muscles appear above his inner garment that crosses from his left shoulder downward to the right and is secured around his full chest by a knotted sash. The voluminous outer garment spreads in unevenly spaced pleats and folds that suggest the natural effects of gravity as they fall across the arms, pendant legs and the front edge of the seat supporting him. Even the loop to the knotted belt falls over the upper edge of the outer garment in a natural manner. A most impressive example for the interest in the cult of Maitreya during the Tang period is the huge seated figure of the Future Buddha carved in cave 565 at Longmen, commissioned by the eminent abbot Huijian. The dedicatory inscription dated 673 places its construction during the reign of the emperor Gaozong (650-683) and his wife Wu Zetian (684-704), who usurped the throne as emperor of the second Zhou dynasty and proclaimed herself as an incarnation of the future Buddha Maitreya in 690. Professor Howard sees an idealized kind of realism reflected in the full chest and strong limbs to a natural body discernable under incised robes of this Maitreya (see Angela Howard, Wu Hong, Li Song and Yang Hong, Chinese Sculpture [Yale University and Foreign Language Press, 2006], p.298 and p.301, il. 3.108). However the same traits are less apparent in sculptures of smaller scale from the years 675 to 700. The first is the seated Buddha Maitreya in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (the Avery Brundage Collection, B61S38+ (27 1/2in [69.9cm] high), of polished limestone, associated with the Tang capital of Chang'an). The inscription dated Shangyuan second year (675) records its commission by the Buddhist disciple Gao Zhouni and his daughter Huiming – one example of many that document patronage of Buddhism away from the imperial court http://asianart.emuseum.com/view/objects/asitem/items$0040:4872 . The Asian Art Museum Maitreya preserves such features missing from the marble Maitreya fragment as the head, feet and lotus plants supporting them as they issue from the base of the supporting plinth. Although the Asian Art Museum Maitreya sits in a believable natural position, the raised... For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website