Description:
The Freer Gallery’s special exhibition Chinese Buddhist Sculpture in a New Light (April 14, 2002–May 4, 2003) reevaluates works from the gallery’s collection of Chinese Buddhist sculpture. Some pieces have never been displayed to the public; others have not been exhibited for many years. Among the latter is a red sandstone Stela, which is dated by inscription to 521 of the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534). This essay reviews the scholarship that informed the understanding of the Freer stela and reconsider its place among examples of Northern Wei sculpture from Shaanxi.
