Page 90 - 2019 September 13th Christie's New York Important Chinese Works of Art

~848
A RARE WELL-CARVED WHITE MARBLE FIGURE OF
A PENSIVE BODHISATTVA
SUI DYNASTY (AD 581-618)
The bodhisattva is shown seated in a pensive pose, with the right
leg drawn up to support his elbow and the left hand holding a
sacred petal-shaped object. The body is draped with long bead
necklaces, and the head is backed by a lotus-form aureole with
foral scroll border.
8º in. (21 cm.) high, hongmu stand, Japanese wood box
$60,000-80,000

PROVENANCE
In Japan prior to 1995.
Kochukyo, Tokyo, 2006.
LITERATURE
Matsubara Saburo, Chugoku Chokokushi ron (The Path of
Chinese Buddhist Sculpture), Tokyo, vol. 2, 1995, pl. 532b.

This fnely carved white marble fgure represents a pensive,
or contemplative, bodhisattva, termed Banjia Siwei Pusa
Xiang in Chinese. This posture originates in the Gandharan
region during the Kushan period, and was frst introduced
to China during the ffth and sixth centuries. This type of
pensive bodhisattva image, shown with one-leg-crossed, is
usually identifed as Maitreya, and became a very popular
(reverse) representation from the second quarter of the ffth century
into the Sui period. A slightly larger carved stone pensive
bodhisattva dated Northern Zhou (AD 557-581) is illustrated by
S. Mizuno, Chugoku Ho Chokoku (Bronze and stone sculpture
of China: from the Yin to the Tang dynasty), Tokyo, 1960, p. 64.
See, also, p. 65, for a similar carved marble pensive bodhisattva
with a lotus-form aureole dated Northern Qi (AD 550-577) in
the Freer Gallery of Art. Two seated stone bodhisattva with
similar expressions and of comparable size, dated Sui dynasty
(AD 581-618), are in the Shanghai Museum and the Eisei Bunko
Museum, both illustrated by Matsubara Saburo, Chugoku
Chokokushi ron (The Path of Chinese Buddhist Sculpture),
Tokyo, vol. 2, 1995, pl. 532a and c.
隋 大理石雕思維菩薩像

(another view with box)