Page 70 - Christie's London May 14, 2019 Chinese Works of Art

Impressive and compelling, the present sculpture embellished edges and long tails that envelope
is rare and important, as it is one of the few the shoulders and loop over the legs as well
gilt bronze representations of the Water Moon as the two-part lower garment, each plain and
Guanyin from the early Ming period and likely unadorned except for the brocaded edge at top
dates to the late fourteenth or early ffteenth and bottom. From the Indo-Tibetan style, the
century. This sculpture’s style represents an 1435 sculpture drew the compressed double-
evolution from that of the Yuan-period images lotus base and the change of posture, from the
mentioned above, and its salient stylistic lalitasana pose of the present sculpture to the
features mark it as a generation later than rajalalitasana pose, a variant of the royal ease
those fgures, placing it in early Ming times. pose, in which the left leg is drawn up, knee
The broad shoulders and leonine chest convey fexed, but turned so that the leg lies fat and is
a new sense of majesty, for example, just as the perpendicular to the torso, as if the fgure had
slightly larger head, which boasts larger eyes been seated in the lotus position but then shifted
as well as topknot of hair encircled by a crown, positions and raised right knee to chest height.
imparts a strong sense of personality. Moreover, From the Indo-Tibetan style, the 1435 sculpture
though still oval, the face is fuller and the cheeks also drew the fgure’s elegant proportions and
fesher than those of the earlier sculptures, the sensuous air, meticulously rendered details, and
dimples that frame the mouth are deeper and relatively square face with feshy cheeks and
more pronounced, and the earrings are larger small features pulled toward the center.
and more emphatic, all of which hint at Tibetan
infuence, as do the inlays of semiprecious stones Not only rare and beautiful, this sculpture is
in the crown and necklace; even so, the sculpture exceptionally important as it represents the
assuredly is still in traditional Chinese, rather than maturation of a long developmental sequence
Sculptural representations of the Water Moon Tibeto-Chinese, style. In addition, the securing yet foreshadows the adoption of the new
Guanyin gained popularity in the Northern Song of the undergarment just below the ribcage and Tibeto-Chinese style. Alas, this sculpture’s
period, that popularity continuing into the Liao the draping of the capelet so that it falls from the tenure as a transition between the traditional
and Jin periods, through the Yuan dynasty, and shoulder onto the right leg add visual interest to and Tibeto-Chinese styles would be brief, as the
into the Ming, the majority of those sculptures the long torso and thus imbue the fgure with life. imperial court and its monied followers came
carved in wood. Well-known examples are in And a slightly revised arrangement of the drapery to favor Tibetan-style Buddhism early in the
the collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum, over the legs clarifes not only the position of the Ming dynasty, particularly during the Yongle
Kansas City (34-10), Metropolitan Museum of Art, legs but their anatomical relationship to the rest (1403–1425) and Xuande eras, when the imperial
New York (28.56), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston of the body (an element that tends to be slightly court made a concerted efort to build secular
(50.590), British Museum (1920,0615.1), Harvard ambiguous and not a little awkward in the Yuan and religious alliances with Tibet, even inviting
Art Museums (1928.110), Victoria and Albert sculptures). Despite the languid posture, the torso Tibetan monks to the capital, Beijing, to conduct
Museum (A.7-1935), and Princeton University Art retains a sense of unmoving solidity, disturbed by religious services, with the result that by Yongle
Museum (y1950-66), among others. In addition, neither overt movement nor dramatic distortion. and Xuande times, the new Tibeto-Chinese style
numerous ceramic sculptures produced in Draping the lower body with efortless ease, of sculpture had come to be the most preferred,
qingbai porcelain at Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, the garments fow naturally and confdently, eclipsing, but not wholly pushing aside, the
during the Yuan dynasty represent the Water conforming to the body beneath and thus traditional Chinese style.
Moon Guanyin, including examples in the Palace revealing both the presence and the form of that
Museum, Beijing, the Nelson-Atkins Museum, body. All of these features signal the emergence
Kansas City, MO (35-5), the Metropolitan of a new and mature style that succeeds the
Museum of Art, New York (1991.253.27), and the style pioneered in the Yuan dynasty and that
Victoria and Albert Museum, London (C30-1968), lays the foundation for further evolution in the
among others. 22 Ming. Even so, with its hints of Indo-Tibetan
infuence—visible in the treatment of the face, for
The present sculpture’s immediate predecessors example, and in the use both of large earrings and 1 Note that pusa is a contraction of puti sacui, which
are those gilt bronze sculptures depicting the of inlays of semiprecious stones—this sculpture is a Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit term
Water Moon Guanyin that were produced during anticipates the rise of the Tibeto-Chinese style. “bodhisattva”.
the Yuan dynasty. Though few in number, they 2 For information on bodhisattvas in general and
on Avalokiteshvara in particular, see: Robert E.
descend from sculptures of the Harvard type Indeed, a Xuande period (1426–1435), Tibeto-
Buswell, Jr. and Donald S. Lopez, Jr., The Princeton
and display a remarkable consistency in style, Chinese-style, gilt bronze sculpture long in a Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
general appearance, and mode of presentation. Scottish collection that sold at Sotheby’s, Hong University Press), 2013; A.L. Basham, “The Evolution
of the Concept of the Bodhisattva” in Leslie S.
In addition to the previously mentioned sculpture Kong, on 8 April 2011 (lot 2839) depicts Guanyin
Kawamura, The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhism
in the Musée Guimet, Paris (MG 10639, fg. 3.), seated in a pose of royal ease and incorporates (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Published by Wilfrid
which, unlike the others, has a goatee, additional elements drawn both from traditional Chinese Laurier University for the Canadian Corporation for
Studies in Religion), 1981; Paul Williams, Mahayana
29
examples include those in the Royal Ontario styles and from the Indo-Tibetan tradition.
Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations, 2nd ed., in the
24
Museum, Toronto (991.63.1), Asian Art Museum, Bearing an inscription dated to 1435—i.e., to the Library of Religious Beliefs and Practices series (New
San Francisco (B60S566), British Museum, tenth year of the Xuande reign—the sculpture York: Routledge), 2009; Chün-fang Yü, Kuan-Yin:
25
The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitesvara (New
London (1947,0712.392), and Ashmolean blends elements of the two styles to create a
26
York: Columbia University Press), 2001; Chün-fang
Museum at Oxford University (EA1956.1376). new, hybrid style and thus reveals the importance Yü, “Avalokiteśvara: The Bodhisattva of Compassion”,
27
Slightly diferent in appearance, a bronze of the present sculpture in the evolution and Oxford Research Encyclopedia, Religion, (religion.
oxfordre.com), pp. 1-16, Online Publication Date: Aug
sculpture sold at Sotheby’s, Paris, on 11 December development of Chinese sculptural styles.
2016, http://religion.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/
2014 (lot 105) nevertheless is related and is part From the traditional style, the 1435 sculpture acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-
of the same group. 28 drew the beaded necklace and the capelet with 9780199340378-e-167
68