Page 118 - Important Chinese Art Sothebys March 2019

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propertY oF a mIssoUrI prIVate CoLLeCtor perhaps the most popular and well-known another bronze example of this deity is
A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE Buddhist deity in China, avalokiteshvara, illustrated in saburo matsubara, Chinese
OF CINTAMANICAKRA or Guanyin, is known by worshippers in Buddhist Sculpture: A study based on bronze
AVALOKITESHVARA many forms, among them ekadashamuka, and stone statues other than works from
cave temples, tokyo, 1966, pls 295a and b,
amogopasha, shadakshari, Water moon
LATE TANG DYNASTY / FIVE Guanyin, and more rarely, Cintamanicakra. as attributed to the tang dynasty. a related bronze
DYNASTIES Buddhism evolved in China, avalokiteshvara’s figure in the collection of the metropolitan
varied forms were introduced through the museum of art attributed to the 10th century,
regally seated in rajalilasana, the head transmission and translation of different sutras. late tang or Five Dynasties period, is illustrated
gracefully inclined, bearing a scrolled diadem as Chun-fang Yu mentions in ‘Guanyin: the in Denise patry Leidy and Donna strahan,
centered by amitabha with long ribbons Chinese transformation of avalokiteshvara’, Wisdom Embodied: Chinese Buddhist and
trailing and enclosing a tall coiffure, the serene, in marsha Weidner, Latter Days of the Law: Daoist Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of
rounded face with sweeping, arced brows Images of Chinese Buddhism 850-1850, Art, new haven, 2010, pl. a35 (fig. 1), depicts
meeting an aquiline nose, a cheek resting Kansas, 1994, p.154, one of the earliest esoteric a different bodhisattva of the same type.
gently in the supportive right hand, the chest avalokiteshvara texts was translated into the metropolitan museum figure has a lotus
adorned with beaded necklaces and the Chinese in the eastern Jin dynasty (317-420 petal base of the same distinctive design as
swaying torso with draped and knotted sashes, a.D.). In the northern Zhou dynasty (557-581 the present example, as well as other similar
the cintamani wish-granting jewel held in front a.D.), further esoteric scriptures focusing on related stylistic elements, such as drapery,
of the chest and a lotus stem at the hip, a dhoti avalokiteshvara were introduced, and through proportions, and facial modeling. another gilt-
draped about the legs in luxurious folds, the these texts, the tantric forms of the bodhisattva bronze figure of an esoteric bodhisattva, in this
bodhisattva set atop a luxuriant lotus-form were propagated. case depicting Vajrasattva, from the collection
base comprised of three tiers of petals each of James W. and marilynn alsdorf, illustrated in
with a central circular boss enclosed by a foliate Cintamanicakra is often depicted in the same hugo munsterberg, Chinese Buddhist Bronzes,
tendril border, the central standard mounted in attitude as the present, holding in the six arms tokyo and rutledge, 1967, pl. 81, now in the
a wood stand (2) the wish-granting jewel (cintamani) in front art Institute of Chicago and attributed to the
height 6¼ in., 16.5 cm of the chest, the dharma wheel (chakra) in late 8th or early 9th century of the tang period,
a raised palm, the stem of a lotus in another
PROVENANCE hand, a mala in another, and the sixth planted also has a lotus base strikingly similar to that
of the present Cintamanicakra figure. a further
Collection of trezevant Branam Winfrey (1912- down for support. the murals of the mogao example of a gilt-bronze bodhisattva holding
1999), by 1968. Caves at Dunhuang, in Cave 14, show a a cintamani, attributed to the 8th century
acquired from the estate of the above in colorfully painted six-armed Cintamanicakra, and with a similar lotus base, modeling, and
Kirkwood, missouri, 1999. in the same pose as the present example, and proportions, was exhibited in Tang Dynasty:
bearing the same attributes, executed in the Chinese Gold and Silver in American Collections,
$ 60,000-80,000 late tang period. Dayton art Institute, 1984, cat. no. 73.

唐末 / 五代 銅鎏金如意輪觀世音
菩薩坐像

來源
Trezevant Branam Winfrey (1912-1999) 收藏，
自1968年起
1999年於密蘇里州柯克伍德購於上述處
之收藏

Fig 1. Bodhisattva, late tang dynasty or Five Dynasties
period, metropolitan museum of art

116 SOTHEBY’S Important ChInese art