Page 317 - Sotheby's October 3 2017 Chinese Art

3676

A BRONZE FIGURE OF GUANYIN 十七世紀 銅錯銀觀音菩薩半迦像
SIGNED SHISOU, 17TH CENTURY 《石叟》仿款

cast seated, the right hand holding a scroll resting
on the raised left leg, dressed in long robes
opening at the chest and falling into voluminous
folds around the feet, the robe hemmed with
silver-inlaid scrolls, the face with a benevolent
expression with downcast eyes, the hair gathered
in an elaborate chignon secured with a pin, inlaid
in silver with a Shishou mark on the reverse
13.2 cm, 5⅛ in.

HK$ 300,000-400,000
US$ 38,400-51,500

Shisou, a legendary artisan, is believed to have
lived at the end of the Ming dynasty and excelled
in silver-inlaid bronzes, especially scholar’s
objects. The precise dates and biography of
Shisou remain unclear, however, due to a lack of
historical documents.

For Shisou-marked seated bronze figures of
Guanyin, see one example dated to the sixteenth
to mid-seventeenth century, illustrated in
Emperor, Scholar, Artisan, Monk, Sydney Moss
Ltd, London, 1984, pp. 280-281, no. 132; a figure
reputedly from the collection of Kichirobei
Yamaguchi, the founder of Tekisui Museum in
Ashiya, Japan, but attributed to the seventeenth
to eighteenth century, was sold in Christie’s
New York, 21st/22nd March 2013, lot 1282; and
another example dated to the Ming dynasty,
illustrated in Gems of Beijing Cultural Relics
Series, Beijing, 2001, p. 79, no. 40.

IMPORTANT CHINESE ART 315