佛像网

尺寸: 带底座23 x 15.9 x 5.6 cm
年代: 5-6世纪
质地: 石雕
风格: 尼泊尔 李查维时期
来源: 牛津大学阿什莫林博物馆
参阅: 外部链接
鉴赏:
这尊佛像代表了受印度笈多影响的5-6世纪李查维时期纯正的尼泊尔风格. 其宽肩厚胸恢宏饱满，却毫无肌肉贲张之感[1]。雄浑的躯干与温润丰腴的面容，传递出静穆止息的禅意。卵形面容上，弓唇微启，颊颐丰圆，发际高阔，鼻梁已残。螺发隆起而非刻线表现，肉髻低平，颈项修长。紧贴躯干的僧伽梨仅以阴线刻出圆领，一袭衣褶轻搭肩背，薄透衣料垂覆双腿处形成细密条纹[2]。

佛陀结跏趺坐，丰腴足底朝上。右手施无畏印，左手掌心向上呈与愿印，舒展指端已残。狮座侧雕鬃毛鬈曲的护法狮，双鹿昂首朝向空寂的法轮中轴——此布局令人忆及加德满都图坎巴哈尔神庙基座[3]。然亦可解读为双鹿转首谛听佛陀于鹿野苑初转法轮。

造像原应配有饰几何纹样的身光，其交错回环的圆方纹饰与座前浮雕如出一辙。右肩背处后刻单字铭文，显系后世补镌[4]。

This Buddha image represents the pure Nepalese style of the Licchavi period under the influence of Gupta India. The heavy shoulders and broad chest are voluminous, yet without any sense of muscularity [1]. The massive torso and the full face with its warm expression convey an impression of serenity and the cessation of movement. The ovoid face has slightly open, bow-shaped lips, rounded cheeks, and a high hairline; the nose is now broken. The curls of the hair are raised, not incised, and the ushnisha is low-domed. The neck is relatively long. The samghati (robe) which clings to the Buddha’s body is indicated only by incised lines showing its round collar, a small fold of fabric flung over the shoulder towards his back and the narrow stripes formed by the thin folds of light fabric draped over his legs [2].

The Buddha is seated in the lotus position, with the soles of his well-fleshed feet turned upwards. His right hand is in abhaya mudra or the gesture of protection. The left hand is held palm upward in the varada mudra of generosity; the ends of the extended fingers are now broken off. The throne-supporting lions are shown in profile with voluminous manes, while the two gazelles raise their heads to the empty central space representing the Wheel of the Law, a treatment which recalls the base of the shrine of Tukan-Bahal in Kathmandu [3]. It is also possible, however, that the gazelles are turning their heads to hear the Buddha as he preaches the sermon in the deer park at Sarnath.

Originally the image would have had a prabha (surround) with geometric marks similar to the alternating circles and squares which decorate the front of the throne. A single letter incised on the back near the upper shoulder is apparently a later addition [4].

[Footnotes]

1 Similar torso and body proportions are seen in the Kathmandu image of a seated Brahma, illus. in Pal, The Arts of Nepal, vol. 1, pl. 11, and dated to 500-50 ad. In Sikubahi, Patan, the stone sculpture of Uma-Mahesvara (length 65 cm), dated 537 ad by inscription, is far more broad and massive (Pal, op. cit., pl. 9; but date according to the UNESCO project: Bangdel, A Report on the Study of the Iconography of Kathmandu Valley and their Preservation and Protection, p. 84.)

2 This emphasis on the raised collar of the samghati is typical of this period in Nepal: see e.g. the seated stone Buddha dated to the sixth century in Pal, op. cit., pl. 181, also Béguin and Held, Népal: Vision d’un art sacré, pls. 131-2, and the standing stone Buddha at Pashupatinath (see Introduction).

3 Slusser, Nepal Mandala, pl. 224, and Pal, op. cit., pl. 182.

4 I thank Dr Gautam Vajracharya for his opinion that this syllable is ra and was probably carved around the sixteenth century or even later; it does not conform to the epigraphy of the Licchavi period.

In: Heller, Amy, Early Himalayan Art (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2008)