Page 147 - Important Chinese Art Sothebys March 2019

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A CARVED WOOD HEAD OF
AVALOKITESHVARA
JIN / YUAN DYNASTY

the oval face with full cheeks rounding at either
side of the plump lips, the slightly aquiline
nose set between downcast eyes, the pupils
recessed for inlay, the urna at the forehead
also recessed, the face framed by pendulous
ears and hair upswept into a high chignon, a
tall diadem crowning the head carved in high
relief with a figure of amitabha Buddha seated
on a lotus blossom between scrolling designs
to either side, five vertical bands extending
upward behind the diadem and curling at the
tips, the diadem secured by a sash wrapping
around the head and set with large rosette-
shaped pins just above the ears, the ends of
the sash hanging down, traces of polychrome
pigment throughout, stand (2)
height 18½ in., 47 cm
Compare a closely related polychrome-
painted carved wood figure of a bodhisattva
attributed to the Jin dynasty in the collection
of the metropolitan museum of art, published
in Denise patry Leidy and Donna strahan,
Wisdom Embodied: Chinese Buddhist and
Daoist Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, new haven, 2010, a49; and a very similar
wood figure of a bodhisattva, also from the Jin
dynasty, in the collection of the nelson-atkins
museum of art, Kansas City, exhibited and
published in Masterworks in Wood: China and
Japan, portland art museum, portland, oregon,
1976, cat. no. 13.
additional wood sculptures of this subject
and style include a carved wood bodhisattva
probably produced in the northern song
dynasty, now in the collection of the
metropolitan museum of art, acc. no. 33.116;
a Yuan dynasty carved wood figure of Guanyin
in the collection of the asian art museum of
san Francisco, obj. no. B60s8+; a Jin dynasty
carved wood figure of Guanyin exhibited in
Ancient Chinese Sculptural Treasures: Carvings
in Wood, Kaohsiung museum of Fine arts,
Kaohsiung, 1998, cat. no. 6; a Yuan dynasty
carved wood figure of Guanyin from the
sauphar Collection, paris, published in Leigh
ashton, An Introduction to the Study of Chinese
Sculpture, London, 1924, pl. LXII; and another
Yuan dynasty wood figure of Guanyin in the
collection of the nelson-atkins museum of art,
obj. no. 59-70.
see also a Jin dynasty gilt and painted wood
figure of Guanyin sold at Christie’s new York,
16th september 1999, lot 21; and a painted
wood figure of a bodhisattva, from the
collection of Francisco Capelo, sold in the same
rooms, 19th september 2006, lot 136.
$ 50,000-70,000

金 / 元 木雕加彩觀音首像

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