Page 135 - Sotheby's Chinese Art and Porcelain Auction New York September 12, 2018

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PROPERTY FROM THE JUNKUNC These rare wall paintings are in the lineage The present fragments are notable for the
COLLECTION of Buddhist imagery best known from wall clever use of vivid colors and determined
A RARE PAIR OF POLYCHROME paintings and silks of the Tang dynasty (618- brushstrokes that imbue volume to the overall
907) preserved in the Dunhuang cave temples composition. They were likely part of a larger
STUCCO FRESCO FRAGMENTS OF
of Gansu province. With the exaggerated mural covering the walls of a temple, depicting
BODHISATTVAS
chubby cheeks and chin, graceful curves of various members of the Buddhist pantheon
FIVE DYNASTIES - SONG DYNASTY the exposed belly above waistline, ß uttering all ß anking a central Buddha. For other
ribbons wrapping the body and an elaborate examples of this type, see a fresco fragment
each of rectangular form, the Þ rst elegantly
jeweled coi# ure, the present paintings carry of a bodhisattva, attributed to the Northern
painted with an attendant bodhisattva standing
characteristic touches of Buddhist Þ gural Song dynasty, formerly in the collection of Carl
on lotus blossoms and with a circular halo
paintings attributed to the eighth to ninth Otto von Kienbusch Jr., and in the Art Museum,
framing the head, holding a lotus sprig with a
centuries. See a late Tang painting of a Princeton University, New Jersey, museum
long leafy stem, the deity wearing a loose dhoti
bodhisattva of more elaborate style, discovered no. y1952-51; and stucco panel attributed to
and a long ß owing scarf, further adorned with
in the Mogao caves, Dunhuang, from the the Song/Jin Dynasty, sold in our Hong Kong
beaded necklaces and elaborate headdresses;
collection of Sir Marc Aurel Stein, and now rooms, 3rd-4th December 2015, lot 287.
the second painted with a similarly depicted
preserved in the British Museum, London,
bodhisattva with the right hand holding a tray $ 60,000-80,000
included in the Museum’s exhibition Caves of
possibly supporting a censer and the left hand
the Thousand Buddhas. Chinese Art from the
in karana mudra, framed (2) Ḽẋ军⬳ġġġ䀘㲍⼑丒厑啑⚾⡩䔓㭀
Silk Route, 1990, cat. no. 14.
Height 35¾ in., 90.8 cm; Width 17⅛ in., 43.5 悐ᶨ⮵
cm
Ը๕
PROVENANCE ⎚吪剔ɀ䑲偗ᶱᶾ炷1978⸜必炸㓞啷
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).