{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O130329"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O130329/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BD5526/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BD5526/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BD5526","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MC9869","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JX8578","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JX8479","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O130329/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O130329","accessionNumber":"A.6-1935","objectType":"Figure","titles":[{"title":"Figure of Buddha","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This full-bodied figure once stood in a temple complex. The body has been carved from a single block of stone, and the head and hands, now missing, would have been added later. It can be dated stylistically to the mid-Tang period, when Buddhist figures were sculpted with ample torsos, in contrast to the slimmer style of the previous century. The undulating folds of the robe are skilfully carved, placed at increasing distances to achieve a graceful aesthetic.","physicalDescription":"A headless figure without feet or a head. He wears a draped, close-fitting robe and the right hand has broken off. Behind the figure, the sculpting is faint, but has been carried out with care, the folds of the robe behind giving volume to the flat back. It is made of white marble with black streaks.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"marble","id":"AAT11443"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carved","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Marble, carved","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Buddhism","id":"THES48984"}],"styles":[{"text":"Tang","id":"AAT18420"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"EAS","id":"THES48596"},"images":["2006BD5526","2019MC9869","2017JX8578","2017JX8479"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"47F","id":"THES49793"},"free":"","case":"PL002","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Buddha torso","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Quyang","id":"x32181"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"618-906","earliest":"0618-01-01","latest":"0906-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased with Art Fund support, the Vallentin Bequest, Sir Percival David and the Universities China Committee","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"191","unit":"cm","qualifier":"incl. plinth","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"151","unit":"cm","qualifier":"visible above plinth","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"70","unit":"cm","qualifier":"maximum","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"27","unit":"cm","qualifier":"maximum","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"<b>Eumorfopoulos Collection</b>\r\n\r\nThis object came from the collections of George Eumorfopoulos (1863-1939), the son of a Greek merchant. George entered the firm of Ralli Brothers, merchants, of London, of which for a time he was representative in south Russia; he rose eventually to be vice-president and retired in 1934. \r\n\r\nSoon after his marriage in 1890, Eumorfopoulos started collecting, moving from European porcelain to an interest in Chinese. It was a time when knowledge of Chinese art in the West was about to expand rapidly: archaeology and railway construction in north China cut into tombs richly furnished with pottery figures and vessels of the first to the tenth century. In his preface to the first of the six volumes of R. L. Hobson's monumental catalogue of his Chinese and other Eastern ceramics (1925-8), Eumorfopoulos recorded that it was in 1906 that he saw the first specimens of tomb wares: 'First came the Han, then the Tang (figures of horses and camels first in 1910), and lastly the Wei' (Hobson, The George Eumorfopoulos Collection, vii). His collection grew rapidly until it became remarkably representative of the ceramics of the Song and earlier periods. Eumorfopoulos then launched out into the field of Chinese archaic bronzes and jades, and eventually of sculpture and paintings as well, until his collection became the greatest of his time. Eumorfopoulos had intended to bequeath his collection to the nation, but in 1934 he found it necessary to realize a part. Accordingly, he offered the national museums all that they required of the Chinese section for £100,000, a sum estimated at the time to be well under half the market value. The money was found, and a division between the British and Victoria and Albert museums was made on a basis of three to two.\r\n\r\nAfter the sale of 1934, Eumorfopoulos still continued to buy Chinese antiquities; his taste was wide, however, ranging from Islamic and medieval art to modern European painting and sculpture. The vitality of his judgement is shown in the remarkable examples of contemporary work which he acquired, largely through his patronage of young artists, in particular sculptors: he owned paintings by Matisse and sculptures by Barbara Hepworth. He also supported archaeological studies and was one of the founders of the Oriental Ceramic Society and its first president from 1921 until his death at 7 Chelsea Embankment on 19 December 1939. His remaining collections were sold at auction by Sothebys from 28 to 31 May and on 5 and 6 June 1940 and, after his widow's death, in 1944. His collection is represented in the major national collections of Chinese art.\r\n\r\nInformation taken from Basil Gray, rev. M. Tregear, DNB website.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Standing Buddha, carved marble, Quyang city, Hebei province, China, Tang dynasty, 618–906.\r\n\t","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs</u>, Vol. 60, No.350 (May 1932), pp.230-36.\r\nYetts C34"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Victoria and Albert Museum, Annual Review 1935 p.9"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Orientations; vol. 40. no. 4; May 2009; The Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Gallery, Victoria & Albert Museum.\r\nLukas Nickel; Faith and Beauty. Chinese Buddhist Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum, p. 55"},{"reference":{"text":"<i>Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, 1935-6</i>, London : Royal Academy of Arts, 1935","id":"AUTH356076"},"details":"2400","free":""}],"production":"Quyang city, Hebei province, China","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Buddha","id":"N5274"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Standing Buddha\r\n618–906\r\nTang dynasty\r\nQuyang city, Hebei, China\r\nMarble\r\nThis full-bodied figure once stood in a temple complex.\r\nIt was carved from a single block of stone, with the\r\nhead and hands made separately. Its ample form\r\nshows an awareness of Indian sculptural practice and\r\ncontrasts with the flatter figures of earlier periods.\r\nThe elegant folds of the robe are placed at increasing\r\ndistances to achieve a graceful aesthetic.\r\nPurchased with the assistance of The Art Fund, the Vallentin Bequest,\r\nSir Percival David and the Universities China Committee\r\nMuseum no. A.6-1935","date":{"text":"1/4/2009","earliest":"2009-04-01","latest":"2009-04-01"}},{"text":"Torso of Standing Buddha\r\nAD 618–906\r\nTang dynasty\r\nThis figure once stood in a temple complex. It was carved\r\nfrom a single block of stone, with the head and hands\r\n(now missing) made separately. The full, rounded form\r\ncontrasts with the flatter figures of earlier periods in China,\r\nshowing an awareness of the Indian Gupta dynasty style.\r\nThe elegant folds of the robe are placed at increasing\r\ndistances to achieve a graceful aesthetic.\r\nQuyang city, Hebei Province, North China\r\nMarble\r\nPurchased with the assistance of the Art Fund, the Vallentin Bequest,\r\nSir Percival David and the Universities China Committee\r\nMuseum no. A.6-1935\r\n唐 大理石佛立像\r\n（原置河北曲阳）","date":{"text":"03/08/2015","earliest":"2015-08-03","latest":"2015-08-03"}},{"text":"\r\n\r\n\r\nMarble\r\nFrom the Eumorfopoulos collection\r\n\r\nMuseum no. A.6-1935\r\nPurchased with the assistance of The Art Fund, the Vallentin Bequest, Sir Percival David and the Universities China Committee","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["A.6-1935"],"accessionNumberNum":"6","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1935,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN9387","2019LW2972"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-21","recordCreationDate":"2006-12-18","availableToBook":false}}