Page 26 - Christie's Fine Chinese Paintings March 19 2019 Auction

PROPERTY FROM THE ARTHUR M. SACKLER FOUNDATION
1609
A MARBLE FIGURE OF A BODHISATTVA
NORTHERN QI-SUI DYNASTY, 6TH CENTURY
The fgure is shown standing and wearing a shawl draped over the arms, and
a long, looped necklace gathered at the waist by a disk above the belt that
secures an outer robe worn over an under-robe that falls in graceful, parallel
folds to the tops of the shoes.
36 in. (91.4 cm.) high, composite stand

$30,000-50,000

PROVENANCE
C. Edward Wells Collection, Bridgewater, Connecticut, 9 December 1963.
Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987) Collections.
The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation.
The rigid, frontal pose of this fgure is typical of Northern Qi and Sui dynasty
stone sculptures of bodhisattvas. See, for example, a sandstone fgure
of a standing bodhisattva at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas
City, illustrated in Zhongguo liu shi hai wai fo jiao zao xiang zong he tu mu
(Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Buddhist Statues in Overseas
Collections), vol. 3, Beijing, 2005, no. 588. The depiction of the drapery over
the lower body, with an unusually long portion of the dhoti folded over and
rippling folds beneath, is rare but can be found on a few known examples,
including a marble fgure of a bodhisattva at the Victoria & Albert Museum,
London, illustrated in Chinese Art in Overseas Collections: Buddhist Sculpture
(II), Taipei, 1990, no. 63. The rectangular belt pendant below the circular
disc is also an unusual feature, but a comparable example can be found
on a Northern Zhou gilt-bronze fgure of Guanyin illustrated by Jin Shen in
Illustrated Chinese Buddha Images Through the Ages, Beijing, 1995, p. 301,
no. 221. The presence of shoes on the present fgure is also unusual, as they
are more often seen on images of guardian or warrior fgures.
北齊/隋 石雕菩薩立像

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