Page 85 - Christies Alsdorf Collection Part 1 Sept 24 2020 NYC

“Suggesting both tranquility and a relaxed

withdrawal from the world, the royal ease

pose implies that the figure so seated is at

peace with both world and self and is engaged

in contemplation.”

Tang and Song periods. With the Chan emphasis on additional lines below imparting fullness or puffiness;
simplicity and directness, early images of the White- the small mouth, with both upper and lower lips in
Robed Guanyin typically wear little jewelry, as seen in “bowed configuration”; the fleshy chin with a line,
the excavated clay sculptures from 1013 and in the tall or fold, underneath suggesting a so-called “double
relief sculpture in the Yanxia Caves; indeed, some early chin”; the elongated ears with thick, unpierced lobes
sculptures of the deity, such as the gilt-bronze figure in that flare outward; and the meticulously combed hair,
the Cleveland Museum, wear no jewelry at all. During parted in the middle and with distinctive, opposed curls
the Ming dynasty, however, Chan Buddhism became immediately above the forehead. A cast-iron sculpture
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closely allied with Pure Land Buddhism with the result representing the head of a bodhisattva that was offered
that the figures became more conventionalized and thus at Sotheby’s Paris, on 16 December 2015 (Lot 145)
characteristically wear more elaborate robes and much not only is closely related to the head of the present
heavier jewelry, as witnessed by the present sculpture. Guanyin but also has locks of hair that fall across the
ears, exactly as in the present sculpture. And the cast-
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The open underside of this hollow-cast sculpture gives iron bodhisattva head in the collection of the Harvard
access to the sculpture’s interior. It remains unknown Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1935.17), 39
whether or not dedicatory objects were deposited within which is virtually identical to the Sotheby’s head and
the hollow interior during its consecration ceremony in which perhaps originally was part of a set together with
order to enliven the image and grant it religious efficacy. the Sotheby’s head, has traces of gold pigment over
The consecration of Buddhist sculptures included an a white gesso ground on the face as well as traces of
elaborate ritual executed in accordance with canonical black pigment over a white gesso ground in the hair,
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texts that describe the process in detail. The most suggesting something of the original appearance of such
important part of the ritual was the placement of Chinese cast-iron sculptures. Kinship to the pair of
consecratory objects within the sculpture’s interior cavity, 1489-dated sculptures in the Asian Art Museum permits
those objects typically including small paper sutras and the attribution of the present White-Robed Guanyin and
prayer scrolls, glass beads, textile fragments, small bronze of the Sotheby’s and Harvard’s heads to the second half
seals, small sculptures of metal or wood, seeds, and of the fifteenth century.
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assorted other special goods. Religious in nature, such
dedicatory items seldom are dated and rarely include any Not only rare and beautiful, this compelling sculpture
information that would convey insight into a sculpture’s is exceptionally important, as it is one of the few
date, place, or other circumstances of manufacture. 36 gilt-bronze representations of the White-Robed Guanyin
from the Ming dynasty. It establishes a link between
The face of the present White-Robed Guanyin shows sculptural representations of the deity and the related
remarkable similarity to those of a pair of 1489-dated, ink paintings that were popular from Song into
cast-iron sculptures representing standing attendants Ming times, just as it demonstrates the continued
and now in the collection of the Asian Art Museum, production of Buddhist sculptures in a traditional
San Francisco; the similar features include the oval Chinese style that descends from the styles of the
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face; large, heavily lidded eyes set under arched brows, Tang and Song in a period when sculptures produced
the upper lids each with an incised line at the lower for the Ming imperial court typically show strong
edge to enhance definition, the lower lids each with Tibetan influence. 40

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