Page 16 - Bonhams Chinese Paintings and Works of Art Sept 15, 2015
P. 16

8000                                                                     8001 in the Gran home

8000                                                                     8001
                                                                         A CAST BRONZE STANDING FIGURE OF AN IMMORTAL
A POLYCHROME AND GILT LACQUERED BRONZE FEMALE                            Ming dynasty, 16th/17th century
ATTENDANT FIGURE                                                         Dressed in a scholar’s cap with trailing ribbons, his layered garments
Late Ming dynasty                                                        tied with a sash suspending an immortal’s gourd as he stands on a
                                                                         rocky outcropping surrounded by waves; the surfaces finished in a
Dressed in a veil framing her oval face, a long sash with undercut       patina of dark brown hue.
                                                                         18 1/2in (47cm) high
details falling to the front of her gown and an offering cloth covering  $20,000 - 30,000

her hands as she cradles a large scroll in her left arm while standing   明十六或十七世紀 銅仙人立像

on a low rectangular plinth finished with corner feet, the exterior

surfaces showing layers of black, red and gilt lacquer.

13 3/4in (35cm) high

$4,000 - 6,000

晚明 多彩漆金銅侍女立像                                                             The immortal depicted here may be Lu Dongbin, the patron of
                                                                         scholars, as suggested by his scholar’s cap and attire. The waves
A bronze standing figure of the Daoist goddess Bixia yuanju,             bordering the reticulated plinth may refer to his journey, as one of the
ascribed to the Southern Song dynasty, appears to be the prototype       immortals, to Penglai Island, the abode of the immortals.
for the standing pose, as well as the pleasing oval facial type
depicted in this lot: see Philip Hu, Later Chinese Bronzes the St.       For a bronze immortal of similar size and attributed to the 16th/17th
Louis Art Museum and Robert E. Kresko Collections, 2008, cat.            century, see Robert Mowry, China’s Renaissance in Bronze: The
no. 1, pp. 22-23 (63.5cm high). See also see the candle stand            Robert H. Clague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900,
in the form of a dancer with similar face, dated as sixteenth-first      1993, cat. no. 52, pp. 210-11 (45.7cm high). Both the Clague
half seventeenth century, discussed by Robert Mowry in China’s           standing figure and this lot show perforations on the face for
Renaissance in Bronze: The Robert H. Clague Collection of Later          attachment of hair to form a mustache and beard.
Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900, 1993, cat. no. 54, pp. 214-215
(42.6cm high); and variation on the same dancing female figure in gilt   For smaller version of this lot in the collection of the Victoria and Albert
bronze sold in our London rooms, sale 13740, 10 July 2006, lot 261,      Museum, also identified as Lu Dongbin and ascribed to the Ming
and dated as late Ming dynasty (41cm high).                              dynasty, see Rose Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, 1990, fig. 64, p 83
                                                                         (25.5cm high). Another version in a similar pose, also standing on a
                                                                         wave-covered base and identified as Lu Dongbin, is preserved in the
                                                                         Musée Cernuschi: see Michel Maucuer, Bronzes de la Chine impériale
                                                                         des Song aux Qing, 2013, cat.no. 108, p. 156 (25cm high).

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