AN INSCRIBED AND DATED RED SANDSTONE BUDDHIST STELE NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY (AD 386-534), DATED BY INSCRIPTION TO AD 500

AN INSCRIBED AND DATED RED SANDSTONE BUDDHIST STELE
NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY (AD 386-534), DATED BY INSCRIPTION TO AD 500
The main side of the stele is carved in high relief with a figure of Buddha shown seated in dhyanasana and right hand held open in abhaya mudra. The adjacent sides are carved in more shallow relief, with one showing the Buddha standing between two bodhisattvas below a pair of apsaras holding a lotus flower, and the other showing the Buddha seated in meditation above two bodhisattvas in conversation. The fourth side is carved with a dedicatory inscription and the entire pillar is surmounted by a four-sided peaked roof.
10 1/4 in. (26 cm.) high

Provenance
Acquired in Hong Kong, 1998.
J. J. Lally & Co., New York, no. 2824.