Page 113 - 2019 OctoberSur Quo Wei Lee Collectim Important Chinese Art Hong Kong

This figure is notable for its large proportions
and detailed carving, evident in the naturalistic
modelling of the long robe and scarf, which
gracefully falls in a fluid cascade over the
arms. Depicted wearing a long veil and worldly
accessories, including a bejewelled tiara and
necklace, the figure’s eyes and head are gently
lowered in a movement that captures the deity’s
otherworldly nature. The graceful stance and
elegant hand with long slender fingers endow
the piece with a feminine beauty and an ethereal
appeal.
Perhaps the most popular and well-known
Buddhist deity in China, Avalokiteshvara, in
China Guanyin, is the bodhisattva of Mercy
and Compassion. Guanyin is described by the
Historical Buddha in the Lotus Sutra (Miao Fa
Lianhua Jing) as the deity that compassionately
provides release and deliverance from suffering
to those that recite her name. Here, Guanyin
is depicted as a graceful feminine figure, an
iconography that first became popular in the
Ming period (1368-1644).
A similar figure of Guanyin, in the Palace
Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Compendium of
Collections in the Palace Museum. Jade, vol. 8:
Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2011, pl. 243; and a slightly
larger one fashioned holding a bowl and a rosary,
from the collections of J. Butterworth and T.Y.
Chao, was sold twice in our London rooms in
1959 and 1969, and again in these rooms, 19th
May 1987, lot 329.
For the prototype of this iconography, see three
bronze figures of Guanyin signed Shisou and
attributed to the Ming dynasty, in the Palace
Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Classics of the
Forbidden City. Guanyin in the Collection of the
Palace Museum, Beijing, 2012, pls 43, 44 and 45.