Page 140 - Christie's Hong Kong Important Chinese Works Of Art May 30 2022

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A VERY RARE LARGE GILT-LACQUERED The current bronze Guanyin is cast in an unusual style with very high
BRONZE SEATED FIGURE OF GUANYIN forehead, slanted eyes and thin pursed lips. The dragon pendant around
the neck is also an attribute that is rarely seen on Guanyin figures. There
is a gilt-bronze figure of Marichi in the Hall of Gilt-Bronze Sculptures in
YUAN-EARLY MING DYNASTY, 14TH CENTURY the Dinosaur Museum in Fenglu, Yunnan, which has very similar facial
The deity is modelled seated in the posture of royal ease, with its features and also wears a similar dragon pendant. Marichi was adapted
hand grasping a seperately cast bronze lotus spray. The round face from Buddhism to the Daoist pantheon as the goddess Doumu, and
with eyes downcast and framed with pendulous ears, the hair swept- is here cast in the Daoist style wearing a Chinese robe and chainmail.
Guanyin also regularly appears in Daoist temples, and it is likely that the
up in a topknot underneath the cowl, wearing a loosely fitted robe current Guanyin was commissioned around the same time in Yunnan
gathered below the bare chest adorned with fine jewellery chains area to be displayed in a Daoist Temple, hence the unusual attributes.
radiating from a central medallion depicting a fierce dragon.
Figure: 29 in. (73.5 cm.) high; 元/明初 十四世紀 漆金銅觀音坐像
33¡ in. (84.7 cm.) high overall with lacquered wood stand
HK$2,800,000-3,500,000 US$360,000-450,000 來源:
台灣私人珍藏，約1980年代購於香港（傳）
P R O V E NAN C E : 此尊觀音造像風格特殊，臉相與一般所見觀音略有不同，額頭極高，鳳眼
A Taiwanese private collection, acquired in Hong Kong circa 1980s 細長，薄唇緊抿。尤其頸上所掛龍紋鎖片極少在觀音造像上出現。雲南祿
(by repute)
封恐龍博物館的金銅造像廳中藏有一件鎏金銅摩利支天像，其開臉與本尊
非常相似，也佩戴著龍紋鎖片。摩利支天是佛教神祇，傳到中土後受到道教
信徒供養，成為道教重要的斗姆元君。這尊摩利支天便是以道教風格鑄造，
穿著漢服盔甲。觀音也是道觀中常供奉的佛教神祇，或許此尊觀音便是在
雲南地區鑄造，供奉在道觀裏的造像，因此佩戴罕見的龍紋鎖片。

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