Page 18 - Bonhams Chinese Paintings and Works of Art Sept 15, 2015
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Emmanuel Gran in his New York apartment with lot 8002
8002 seated Guanyin bearing the signature of Shisou and ascribed in
A FINE CAST BRONZE SEATED FIGURE OF GUANYIN date from the late Ming dynasty, mid-16th to mid-17th century (for
17th century example, Sidney L. Moss, Ltd., Emperor Scholar Artisan Monk: the
Her hair carefully combed and pinned in an elaborate coiffure fronted Creative Personality in Chinese Works of Art, 1984, cat. no. 132) to
by a figure of a seated Buddha as she turns toward her right while the 17th/18th century (for example, Christie’s New York, sale 2689,
seated in the posture of royal ease, her outer garment wound tightly 21-22 March 2013, lot 1282).
around her and the undergarment falling in wave-like folds at her feet;
the dark brown lacquered surfaces showing traces of gilt lacquer. In the above and other examples, Guanyin often presents a full face
16 1/2in (42cm) high with calm, idealized features. The head of Guanyin in this lot, in
$50,000 - 70,000 contrast, is quite individualized - a self-confident beauty with high
forehead, pert nose and a bamboo-shaped hairpin in her coiffure
十七世紀 銅觀音坐像 of fashionable late Ming type (for jade examples, see James Watt,
Chinese Jades Han to Ch’ing, 1980, cat. no. 192, p. 198; and cat. no.
The posture of the figure with the right knee raised is one associated 193, bearing the signature of Lu Zigang, cat. no. 193, p. 199). This
with the white-robed Guanyin as early as the Five Dynasties. The seated Guanyin seems to have more in common with rare portrait-like
pose with variations continued into the seventeenth century in male figures from the secular realm, such as the seated scholar-official
porcelain and bronze, notably the Dehua figure of Guanyin seated inscribed with Wanli cyclical dates from the Doris Duke Collection
between Longnu and Shancai, dated by inscription to Chongzhen (Christie’s New York, sale 1408, 21 September 2004, lot 125, 22.9cm
second year (1629), in the City Museum & Art Gallery, Hong Kong high) and the charming censer in the form of a seated scholar and
(see P. J. Donnelly, Blanc de Chine, 1969, p. 137 and fig. 71b, 9 goose, ascribed to the Ming dynasty (Christie’s New York, sale 1639,
13/16in high); and a larger version in bronze published by Michael 29 March 2006, lot 322, 40.6cm long).
Goedhuis and Ulrich Hausmann (see Chinese and Japanese Bronzes
A.D. 1100-1900, 1989, cat. no. 6 and front cover, 18in high). The
type could be expanded to the silver-inlaid bronze figures of a
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