Page 63 - Art D'Asie Paris

This small and rare wooden gem

is a fne example of the so-called
Nepalo-Chinese Buddhist style
that appeared during the later Yuan
dynasty. Although their Mongol
founders ruled barely eighty years over
China, their impact on culture and art
was tremendous. They were devoted
supporters of Tibetan Buddhism and
to follow the correct representations
of the deities they attracted foreign
craftsmen to their court. Through
the mediation of the king of Nepal,
eighty Newari craftsmen were sent
to the Mongol court around 1260
AD. These artists brought with them
Newari ideas of beauty and style. This
resulted in less concentration on the
idealized body beauty, clothing and
adornments from previous Chinese
periods (see for instance the important
wooden Song Guanyin, Lot 27). In due
course the pure Newari style became
assimilated into a Nepalo-Chinese
style of the later Yuan and early Ming
period. The images show the correct
Tibetan Buddhist iconography, slim
bodies though with more detailed
clothing as can be gleaned from
the current Maitreya fgure. A pure
Chinese infuence is the placing of the
lotus pericarp on a pedestal sculpted
in relief with scrolling tendrils and
well-known from slightly later Ming
bronze examples.

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