Large Chinese relief. Tang Dynasty, 618 - 907... Lot 422

Large Chinese relief. Tang Dynasty, 618 - 907 AD. L 47 cm, W 33.5 cm, D 10 cm. Light limestone, carved. The Buddha seated on a pedestal in an ornamentally relieved niche with traces of red paint in the central field, flanked by two disciples. Highlighted by a half relief. Central field framed by ten panels in bas-relief. Upper panel three niche fields each with two seated Buddhas, left and right side each with three niche fields with a seated Buddha. Lower central panel altar with Buddhist symbols, flanked by two lions in profile facing each other. Back and edges decorated with symmetrically arranged parallel diagonals in relief. Vertical break on the reverse and rim restored, areas of breakage on the rim and upper right field. Provenance: Ex collection R.K., North Rhine-Westphalia, before 1980.