Re-framing the Evidence around An Extraordinary Sixth Century Chinese
Sculpture of a Bodhisattva--Katherine R. Tsiang
The starting point for much art historical scholarship, meaningful ordering of
visual evidence, can depend on perspectives and assumptions related to information being
considered. The range of the evidence considered and the perspectives adopted toward
this evidence can lead to diverse conclusions. Recent questioning of the reliability of the
attribution of a group of sculptures in American collections to the Buddhist cave temples
of Xiangtangshan has inspired the selection of this sculptural work, a unusually fine lifesized bodhisattva in the Freer/Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C. It is one of a group of
limestone sculptures that was first published in the Burlington Magazine in 1914 where it
was incorrectly assigned to the Longmen caves near Luoyang. Since then the group has
been widely attributed to Xiangtangshan and the Northern Qi dynasty (550-577). The
featured sculpture of a standing bodhisattva is said to be from the southern group of
Xiangtangshan caves, a severely damaged site now with most of the sculptures broken
and/or removed from the caves. The process of destruction began in the early part of the
twentieth century before the caves are known to have been photographed, so the former
appearance of the caves is not known but can only be conjectured. Comparison with the
incomplete images remaining at the site in stylistic terms fails to show conclusive
evidence of the bodhisattva’s relationship with the site. This talk explores various
frameworks for viewing and meaningful ordering of visual evidence relating to the
sculpture. Its unusual features and iconography—the physiognomy, modest garb, and the
lotus bud held in the hands—are examined to address questions of artistic and cultural
context, relationship to a group of sculptures outside China, and possible religious
signification.