Page 228 - 2019 September 11th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art

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A RARE GILT-LACQUER BRONZE Daoist figures from the Dali Kingdom are Walters Art Gallery, vol. 48, 1990, p. 8, the royal
FIGURE OF KUIXING exceedingly rare, as Buddhism was the family and nobility were subsequently educated
DALI KINGDOM, 12TH CENTURY official state religion. The Dali Kingdom in Chengdu, one of the most prosperous and
arose from the unified ashes of the Nanzhao sophisticated cities in China during the Tang
cast in a characteristically vigorous pose, Kingdom (738-937), which had outlawed dynasty.
holding a writing brush in the raised, proper Daoism by the 9th century. Out of the Meng The Qingyang Gong, a vast and important
right hand and an ingot in the left, the raised family rulers, King Fengyou (r. 823-59) Daoist temple complex in Chengdu, was
foot balancing a dou vessel from which extends was the most demonstrative of his faith,
a celestial constellation, the head with wild, erecting the Chongsheng Temple complex erected in the 9th century, suggesting the
strength of the religion in Sichuan at the
spiked tufts of hair, above a fierce expression and commissioning thousands of Buddhist time. The ambitious young elites of the Meng
formed from fleshy facial features, the writhing statues in the kingdom’s capital. Despite the family and other Nanzhao nobility were likely
body outfitted in celestial sashes and a garment earlier proscription of Daoism, however, the
with diaper-patterned panels, the immortal Dali Kingdom was in fact quite diverse in its influenced by the strongly Daoist surroundings,
and the worship of Wenchang, the god of letters
perched on the back of a dragon-fish emerging ethnic and religious composition. The Bai and scholars, seems especially appropriate
from turbulent waves, all raised on a bracket people had practiced shamanism prior to their given that they were sent to Chengdu to study.
base (2) introduction to Buddhism, and ‘Theravada
Height 15⅝ in., 39 cm certainly was from Upper Burma, Mahayana Wenchang’s celebrated acolyte Kuixing, often
depicted brandishing a brush and holding a
was from China, and Mijiao in Yunnan was from
$ 60,000-80,000 Tibet. Furthermore, Nestorianism and Islam vessel to measure a scholar’s worth, would
arrived in Yunnan from the north, as did… have been a popular subject of art and
veneration.
Confucianism and Daoism’ as Bin Yang notes in
大理國 十二世紀 銅漆金魁星 ‘Horses, Silver, and Cowries: Yunnan in Global Compare the face and physicality of the
點斗像 Perspective’, Journal of World History, vol. 15, present figure with that of a Yunnan bronze
no. 3, September 2004, p.317. figure of a wrathful guardian attributed to the
10th to mid-13th century, now at the Asian
The Nanzhao regions were originally a cluster of Art Museum San Francisco, obj. no. 1994.23.
tribes in western Yunnan, and not unified until A gilt-bronze Daoist figure attributed to the
Meng Piluoge was recognized as ruler in 738. Dali Kingdom, 13th/14th century, was offered
His son, King Geluofeng (r. 748-79), fortified the in these rooms, 20th March 2002, lot 279.
country against Chinese invasion by allying his Another gilt-lacquered bronze figure attributed
country with Tibet. The grandson of Geluofeng, to the Dali Kingdom, 10th-13th century, of the
Yimouxun (r. 779-808), implemented a deity Avalokiteshvara and from the Fong Chow
drastically different political strategy, breaking Collection, was sold at Christie’s New York, 21st
ties with the Tibetans and pledging allegiance March 2013, lot 1191.
to the Tang emperor. According to Angela
F. Howard, ‘A Gilt Bronze Guanyin from the The dating of this lot is consistent
Nanzhao Kingdom of Yunnan: Hybrid Art from with its Oxford Authentication Ltd.
the Southwestern Frontier’, The Journal of the thermoluminescence test result, no. C118j38.

226 SOTHEBY’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART