February** Dynamic Incentive Program
4733 Early Ming Dynasty bronze Amitabha Buddha seated statue.
Height: 130cm
Estimate: 8,000,000 10,000,000
Price realised: RMB18,975,000 (including commission).
This figure represents the Amitabha Buddha (i.e., the Buddha of the Western Elysium) among the three Buddhas
The meaning of "Buddha" varies depending on the context. Buddhas, physically, include "past Buddhas (all the Buddhas of the past who have completed their studies without a beginning), present Buddhas (Shakyamuni), and future Buddhas (all sentient beings will become Buddhas in the future)"; The Buddha should be felt by all sentient beings, and there are many names in different time and space. The three Buddhas of the ten directions share the same Dharma body. One heart and one wisdom. The same goes for fearlessness. The self-consciousness is pure, and it is called Amitabha. From the perspective of Buddhist teachings, Amitabha Buddha is an expression of immeasurable light, immeasurable lifespan, and immeasurable merit. Amitabha Buddha is the supreme king of light and the king of Buddhas.
In 2005, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the United States held the "Yongle Exhibition" for the first time, and the museum experts wrote an article clearly pointing out that the relief of the Buddha statue of Juyongguan Yuntai in the Yuan Dynasty, with a large head and a high bun, broad shoulders and strong waist, is the prototype of the Yongle official Buddha statue style in the early Ming Dynasty. In contrast, there is indeed an obvious inheritance relationship between the artistic characteristics of this Amitabha Buddha statue and the Juyongguan Buddha statue. From the comparison of the details of the Buddha statues, such as the hair bun, physiognomy, clothing, and body shape, they all explain to us what they have in common in aesthetics. From this, we can make a bold guess that the original provenance of this Buddha statue should have come from a large temple near the Beijing area. This Amitabha Buddha sits one meter three high, and according to the proportions, it should be 1 of a real person5 times, the volume ratio is comparable to the 50 million Guan Gong seated statue at the 2019 Spring Auction Poly Hong Kong auction. This size is definitely a large gold and bronze statue in ancient times, it is conceivable that the original seat may be close to two meters, its fine copper has been worth tens of thousands, the cost of labor is more difficult to calculate, there must be other Arhats and Bodhisattvas in a group to serve together, the cost of casting is probably not the ordinary temple can afford. This Amitabha Buddha is cast by the lost wax method, which is the most delicate casting method in ancient times, but the process is difficult, and the early repair and repair and polishing steps are extremely cumbersome. The Ming Dynasty Imperial City Temple cast Buddha statue regardless of the cost, tireless refinement, through superb technology, with the lost wax method to cast such a towering statue, I have to say that it is a pioneering achievement in the history of ancient casting.
Liu Kai was quoted as saying: "Some research statistics show that among the existing ancient large-scale bronze Buddha statues, the Ming Dynasty cast about sixty percent, which shows that the Ming Dynasty loved the gold and bronze statues and reached the pinnacle of large-scale Buddha casting technology." It is a pity that most of these royal monasteries, along with the Buddha statues in them, have been overwhelmed by natural disasters and dynastic changes, and very few can be preserved. In the late Ming Dynasty, the political situation was chaotic, the national strength was weakened, Buddhism could not develop, and Buddhist statue art also came to a standstill. Especially since Emperor Jiajing converted to Taoism, there have been many incidents of destroying Buddha statues, which made a large number of high-level Buddha statues in the early and middle Ming Dynasty come to naught, and those that can survive are precious. Although this noble statue has been destroyed, it has fortunately not been seriously damaged, and after careful protection and cleaning by the original collector, it shows that the copper color is verdant and lovely, full of antiquity. The existing large-scale gold and bronze Buddha statues of more than one meter are very rare, and most of them are stored in traditional temples, cultural relics protection units and museums, and it is rare to see them in the hands of private people. According to the research statistics of Professor Wang Fuzhen, an expert in ancient casting technology, there are more than 1There are only 69 large bronze Buddha statues of the Ming Dynasty of 2 meters, including 12 statues of Sakyamuni, including the Big Buddha of Tiantai Guoqing Temple, the bronze Buddha of Jietai Temple in Beijing, the bronze statue of Sakyamuni in Xianyang Museum and the statue of Sakyamuni in the Capital Museum. "There are even fewer Amitabha Buddhas, who represent the Western Elysium. It can be seen that this large Amitabha Buddha is rare and precious.
If you stand in front of this Amitabha Buddha, look up and look at it quietly, you will feel that everything has become so calm and natural, and the hustle and bustle of the world will suddenly become quiet. This kind of spiritual shock and impact is what this artwork brings us.