Page 71 - Christie's London May 14, 2019 Chinese Works of Art

3 See: Angela Falco Howard et al., Chinese Sculpture 13 See: Jessica Harrison-Hall, Catalogue of Late
in The Culture and Civilization of China series (New Yuan and Ming Ceramics in the British Museum
Haven: Yale University Press; and Beijing: Foreign (London: British Museum Publications), 2001, 16:96
Languages Press), 2006, p. 228. (1991,0304.3); also see: http://www.britishmuseum.
org/research/collection_online/collection_object_
4 “Pose of royal ease” is a translation of the Sanskrit details.aspx?objectId=253183&partId=1&searchText=G
term lalitasana—which means the “king’s pose”; it uanyin&images=true&page=2
designates a seated position in which the fgure sits,
as if a king on a throne, with one leg pendant and the 14 Not published. See: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/
other leg fexed and pulled back with the knee at chest db/be/9c/dbbe9ca8f32dca9469f221f55301cb3b.jpg
height.
15 A legendary mountain, Mount Potalaka—formally
5 Given that it is small and is pierced through with a termed Butuoluo Shan in Chinese—is mentioned in
hole, the object more likely represents a rosary bead Buddhist sutras and, according to the Gandavyuha
than a wish-granting jewel. Presumbaly integrally cast Sutra, is the residence of the Bodhisattva
with the present sculpture, this bead perhaps anchored Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin). Indians traditionally believe
the remaining beads of a rosary that were afixed to the Mount Potalaka to be in south India, either in today’s
sculpture after casting. Tamil Nadu or in the seas to the south of the Indian
subcontinent; by contrast, Chinese traditionally identify
6 For an image of Bodhisattva Manjushri (Wenshu Mount Potalaka with the legendary Mount Putuo, an
Pusa) seated in the pose of royal ease, see: Denise island believed to be in the East China Sea, to the
Patry Leidy, Donna Strahan, et al., Wisdom Embodied: southeast of modern Shanghai.
Chinese Buddhist and Daoist Sculpture in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York: Metropolitan 16 For information on Sudhana, his pilgrimage, and
Museum of Art; and New Haven, CT, and London: Yale illustrations based on the Gandavyūha Sutra, see
University Press), 2010, p. 180 (42.25.5). Jan Fontein, The Pilgrimage of Sudhana: A study of
Gandavyūha Illustrations in China, Japan and Java (The
7 See, for example, the Yongle-period Guanyin that also Hague and Paris: Mouton), 1967.
holds a book in a similar, if commensurately smaller, Fig. 1
han storage box and that sold at Christie’s, New York, 17 See: Roderick Whitfeld, The Art of Central Asia:
on 20 March 2014, lot 1622: Christie’s, The Sublime The Stein Collection in the British Museum (Tokyo:
and the Beautiful: Asian Masterpieces of Devotion, 20 Kodansha International in co-operation with the
March 2014 (New York: Christie’s), 2014, pp. 110-115, lot Trustees of the British Museum), 1st ed., 1982, vol. 1, pl.
1622. For discussions of those forms of Guanyin holding 54 (1919,0101,0.141).
a book, see: Jacob N. Kinnard, Imaging Wisdom: Seeing
and Knowing in the Art of Indian Buddhism (Richmond, 18 See: Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins
Surrey, England: Curzon), 1999, p. 166 and note 59; also Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th
see: Benoytosh Bhattacharyya, The Indian Buddhist ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art),
Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and 2008, p. 331, fg. 148 (F88-37/52).
Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals, Appendix, 2nd ed. 19 Wladimir Zwalf, Buddhism: Art and Faith
(Calcutta: Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay), 1958, p. 420, fg. (London: British Museum Publications), 1985, p. 298
78(A), p. 424, fg. 96(A), and p. 425, fg. 99(A). (1947,0712.392).
8 See: Leidy and Strahan, Wisdom Embodied, 2010, p. 20 Not published. See: https://www.
138, no. 33 (56.223). harvardartmuseums.org/collections/
object/204070?position=4
9 See: Ma Yuanhao, editor and photographer, Guanyin
Zaoxiang Haiwai Yizhen [Overseas Treasures of 21 Not published. See: http://www.clevelandart.org/
Guanyin Statues], vol. 2, (Hangzhou: Zhejiang Sheying art/1984.7
Chubanshe), 2016, pp. 294-295. Ma Yuanhao, ‘Guanyin
Zaoxiang Haiwai Yizhen’, vol. 2, (Hangzhou: Zhejiang 22 For illustrations and scholarly discussion of these
Sheying Chubanshe), 2016, p. 294-295. qingbai sculptures, see: Denise Patry Leidy, “Qingbai
Buddhist Sculpture: Lecture Given by Denise Leidy on
10 For a hanging scroll in the Metropolitan Museum 14th June 2017, The Annual AGM Lecture”, Transactions
of Art, New York, see: Wen C. Fong, Beyond of the Oriental Ceramic Society (London: Oriental
Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, Ceramic Society), in press, forthcoming in 2019.
Eighth–Fourteenth Century (New York: Metropolitan
Museum of Art), 1992, p. 360, pl. 80 (1982.3.3). Also 23 See: Ma Yuanhao, Guanyin Zaoxiang Haiwai Yizhen,
see the famous painting by Muqi Fachang (13th vol. 2, 2016, pp. 294-295. Ma Yuanhao, ‘Guanyin Fig. 2
century) representing the White Robed Guanyin, the Zaoxiang Haiwai Yizhen’, vol. 2, 2016, p. 294-295.
painting long preserved in the collection of Daitoku- 24 See: James C.Y. Watt, et al., The World of Khubilai
ji Temple, Kyoto, Japan; the painting is the central Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty (New York:
panel of a triptych that includes a painting of a crane Metropolitan Museum of Art; and New Haven, CT: Yale
at the left and one of a mother gibbon and her baby University Press), 2010, p. 115, fg. 149.
at the right. See: Richard M. Barnhart, et al., Three
Thousand Years of Chinese Painting in The Culture 25 See: Masterpieces of Oriental Art from the
and Civilization of China series (New Haven, CT: Yale Collection of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
University Press; and Beijing: Foreign Languages (Kyoto, Japan: Kyoto National Museum), 1995; also
Press), 1997. see: http://onlinecollection.asianart.org/view/objects/
asitem/search@swg’B60S566’/0?t:state:fow=78f1ad
11 For an example in the Harvard Art Museums, 4c-ec11-44d9-b3b6-bbd36dbaa4d7
Cambridge, MA, see: James Cuno et al., Harvard’s Art
Museums: 100 Years of Collecting (Cambridge, MA: 26 See: Zwalf, Buddhism: Art and Faith, 1985, p. 298
Harvard University Art Museums; and New York: Harry (1947,0712.392).
N. Abrams, Inc.), 1996, pp. 70-71 (1943.57.12).
27 Not published. See: http://collections.ashmolean.
12 For examples with original wooden bases, see the org/collection/search/per_page/25/ofset/0/sort_by/
famous sculpture dated to the Liao (907–1125) or Jin relevance/object/24795
(1115–1234) dynasty in the collection of the Nelson- 28 See: Sotheby’s, Arts d’Asie, 11 December 2014
Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, published in (Paris: Sotheby’s), 2014, lot 105. Also see: http://www.
Colin Mackenzie, et al., Masterworks of Chinese Art: sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/arts-asie-
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, MO: pf1417/lot.105.html
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art), 2011, pp. 80-81, no. 20
(34-10); and the similarly dated example in the Victoria 29 See: Sotheby’s, Vestiges from China’s Imperial
and Albert Museum, London, published in John Larson History, 8 April 2011 (Hong Kong: Sotheby’s), 2011,
and Rose Kerr, Guanyin: A Masterpiece Revealed lot 2839. Also see: http://www.sothebys.com/en/
(London: Victoria and Albert Museum), 1985 (A.7-1935). auctions/ecatalogue/lot.2839.html/2011/vestiges-
from-china39s-imperial-history-hk0372
Fig. 3
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