Page 306 - Sotheby's October 3 2017 Chinese Art

3668

A RARE BRONZE FIGURE OF 遼 銅觀音菩薩坐像
AVALOKITESHVARA
LIAO DYNASTY

cast seated in lalitasana on a raised lotus
pedestal, the right arm lowered and the left
hand held in dhyanamudra supporting a circular
disc, wearing long robes opening at the chest
revealing a beaded necklace, the face with a
benevolent expression, the hair gathered into a
high elaborate chignon with long plaits falling off
the side of the shoulders
10.5 cm, 4⅛ in.

HK$ 600,000-800,000
US$ 77,000-103,000

The present figure of the bodhisattva
Avalokitesvara belongs to a small group of finely
modelled Buddhist gilt-bronze sculptures which
are related to the famous large clay bodhisattvas
of the Liao dynasty at the Lower Huayan Temple
at Datong in Shanxi province dated to 1038
A.D. Sensitively case to capture a dignified and
serene quality, the figure is characteristic of Liao
Buddhist statuary; such as the seated position in
a lotus flower and the elegant robe.

For another Liao dynasty bodhisattva, see the
example in the Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas
City, illustrated in Marilyn Greidig Gridley, Chinese
Buddhist Sculpture Under the Liao, New Delhi,
1993, pl. 102, fig. 144; and another in the National
Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the exhibition
Recently Acquired Gilt-Bronze Buddhist Images,
Taipei, 1996, cat. no. 14. Compare also a smaller
Liao bronze figure of Amithaba Buddha, sold in
these rooms, 27th May 2014, lot 752.

304 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比