Page 266 - Christie's Fine Chinese Paintings March 19 2019 Auction

1770

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION VARIOUS PROPERTIES
1770 •1771
A RARE POLYCHROME FRESCO A RARE LARGE POLYCHROME FRESCO
MING DYNASTY (1368-1644) MING DYNASTY (1368-1644)
The fresco fragment is painted with thirteen bodhisattvas standing amidst The fresco fragment is painted with a female warrior wearing long fowing
swirling clouds, each fgure with an aureole around the head, and wearing long robes standing in a ferce pose, with left arm raised and right hand holding a
fowing robes with multiple folds. sword, standing beside two female attendants, all standing amidst clouds,
with details picked out in raised gesso.
20 x 12æ in. (50.8 x 32.4 cm.) including softwood frame
57 x 39 in. (144.8 x 99 cm.), lacquered softwood frame
$5,000-7,000
$6,000-8,000
PROVENANCE
Richard Bryant Hobart (1885-1963) Collection, Cambridge, Massachusetts. PROVENANCE
Acquired in Japan prior to the 1940s.
EXHIBITED The style of painting on this fresco recalls that of the mid-eighth century
Temporary Loan, Harvard Art Museum, 5 May 1950 – 2 June 2 1950. temple painting style. Largely ignored by the court and literati circles, this
Dr. Woodfn Cobbs (1927-2006) Collection, Atlanta, Georgia, acquired prior to ‘fowing water and scudding clouds’ (xingyun liushui) manner, reminiscent of
the late 1960s. the Tang dynasty painter Wu Daozi, was ideal for painting religious fgures.
明 彩繪菩薩群像壁畫 Unlike earlier modes stressing precise contours, the whirling spiritual energy
of this brushwork gives the impression of qi, or inner life. This animated style
has been popular with builders and decorators of Buddhist temples ever
since.
明 彩繪人物壁畫

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