佛像筆記 vol.03 山中商會、喜龍仁：龍門石窟被盜北魏蓮花洞菩薩首 - Yamanaka, A Northern Wei Longmen Bodhisattva
- SACA
- May 1
- 2 min read
蓮花窟從五世紀後期到六世紀初期的數十年間，在北魏後都洛陽（494 年建立）附近的伊河沿岸的懸崖峭壁上，鑿有雕刻造像的佛教石窟。蓮花窟是北魏（龍門石窟開鑿活動最早的王朝時期）的幾個大型石窟之一，因窟頂雕有一朵非常大的蓮花而得名。
這尊菩薩頭像從蓮花洞被盜出後出版的第一批已知照片出現在武藤山治（1867-1934 年）收藏的圖版，由大阪山中商會畫廊於 1930 年出版。它們顯示了該頭像早期的修復狀態，接縫和修補比現在更加明顯。武藤很有可能是在 20 世紀 20 年代從山中公司購得該頭像的。
武藤山治去世後，他的繼承人將大部分雕塑藏品借給了大阪市立美術館，菩薩頭在那裡保存了半個多世紀。菩薩頭隨後被賣給了一位私人收藏家（據信為日本經銷商London Gallery，田島充），而這位收藏家又在 2016 年將其投入市場。
這件流失海外多年的龍門石窟菩薩首，由於來源清晰炙手可熱，曾短暫借展明尼阿波利斯藝術博物館。
資料出處：Kathrine R. Tsiang - A 6th Century Bodhisattva Head from Longmen
In the decades spanning the late fifth to the early sixth century, Buddhist cave temples with carved images were hewn into the precipitous cliffs along the Yi River near the Northern Wei court’s later seat at Luoyang (established in 494 CE). The Lotus Cave is one of several large grotto shrines created under the Northern Wei—the dynasty during which Longmen’s earliest carving activity took place—and takes its name from the very large lotus blossom sculpted on its ceiling.
The earliest known published photographs of the Bodhisattva head after its illicit removal from the Lotus Cave appear in plates from the collection of Muto Sanji (1867–1934), issued by the Osaka branch of the Yamanaka Gallery in 1930. These images reveal the head’s initial state of restoration, with seams and repairs far more conspicuous than those visible today. Muto most likely acquired the head from Yamanaka & Company in the 1920s.
Following Muto Sanji’s death, his heirs loaned the majority of his sculpture collection to the Osaka Municipal Art Museum, where the Bodhisattva head remained for more than half a century. The head was subsequently sold to a private collector—believed to be Mitsuru Tajima of London Gallery in Japan—who, in 2016, placed it on the market.
This Bodhisattva head from Longmen, lost abroad for many decades yet prized for its clear provenance, was briefly on loan to the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
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