Page 143 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Jades, Met Museum Irving Collection NYC

63 A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF
AVALOKITESHVARA
Ⓒġġġ 戭 TANG DYNASTY
挷 standing in tribhanga atop an integral faceted lotus pedestal, Ը๕
慹 adorned with long ß owing shawls, jewels, a dhoti, and an
奨 elaborate headdress, holding a willow branch in one hand œŢŭűũġŎįġńũŢŪŵġňŢŭŭŦųŪŦŴ炻䲸䲬炻IJĺĹij⸜IJIJ㚰Ĵ㖍
枛 and a holy water bottle in the other, the face serene and gaze ἃ伭ΐ㕗ġĩIJĺijıĮijıIJĹĪġ⍲崓ỗ䈡ġĩIJĺIJĸĮijıIJķĪɀ㫸
䩳 downcast, stand (2) 暚ằ⃟㓞啷炻䶐嘇Ĺĵı
⁷
Height 5⅜ in., 13.7 cm

PROVENANCE
Ralph M. Chait Galleries, New York, 3rd November 1982.
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016)
Irving, no. 840.
Representations of Avalokitesvara during the Sui and Tang
periods frequently depict the bodhisattva adorned in princely
jewels, bearing in one hand a ‘pure water vessel’, believed to heal
and bless worshippers, and a willow branch, also representative
of healing, in the other.
A very similar but slightly larger example in the collection of the
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, is illustrated in Chinese
Art in Overseas Collections, Buddhist Sculpture II, Taipei, 1986,
pl. 116 and one in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum
of Art is also illustrated, pl. 117. Two related examples sold at
Christie’s New York, 14th September 2017, lots 827 and 830.
A similar Þ gure holding a bottle and prayer beads sold in these
rooms, 17th September 2013, lot 61.
$ 20,000-30,000

CHINESE ART FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: THE FLORENCE AND HERBERT IRVING GIFT 141