Page 223 - Sothebys HK Dragon Emperor April 2024

This serene head depicts the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. 此尊觀音菩薩首像眉目端雅，臉龐圓潤，容貌安恬，
The sublimely carved oval face is counterbalanced by a 逸群而出塵，配以華冠，上飾卷葉及阿彌陀佛，相得
tall crown richly carved with palmettes and foliate motifs, 益彰。五官分明，屬北齊特徵，雙頰飽滿，冠飾富
centred by a figure of Amitabha Buddha. It combines
traces of the Northern Qi style in the slight angularity of 麗，則兼隋代韻致。隋人造像風格亦承前朝，以完
the features with the more rounded style of the Sui, seen 美身相展現佛法清淨，勢之所趨，於此像已見端倪。
in the full cheeks and sumptuously carved crown. As such,
it foreshadows the Sui dynasty’s trend towards naturalism 六世紀，時局動盪，政權頻更，中土佛教亦風行草
with the inherited idealised forms that conventionally 從，諸般影響於其時宗教藝術即可窺見。現世渾濁，
conveyed the purity of Buddhist subjects.
為尋超脫，廣大信眾皈投淨土宗，供奉阿彌陀佛（或
The political and social turmoil that accompanied dynastic 菩薩，如觀世音等），以求往生淨土（西方極樂世
changes in the 6th century significantly impacted Chinese 界）。故而，六世紀中晚期，菩薩造像多如雨後春
Buddhist practice in several ways, which are reflected in
religious art of the period. In their search for refuge beyond 筍，本像及大量同期造像皆湧現於此。隋朝天子大
the chaos of the material world, a variant form of Pure Land 興土木，立佛塔，建佛寺，造佛像，借助佛教信仰一
Buddhism, in which devotion to Amitabha (or a bodhisattva 統天下。佛教治國下，東歐亞大陸交流密切，佛法與
such as Avalokiteshvara) allowed adherents to be reborn in 藝術自南亞、中亞傳入中土，又經中土遠播朝鮮及日
Sukhavati (the Western Paradise of the Buddha Amitabha), 本。一時，四海之內，造像形貌氣象萬千。
grew in popularity. Consequently, images of bodhisattvas
proliferated in the third quarter of the 6th century, as
evidenced by the present and numerous contemporaneous 此像來源有緒，乃意大利大使戴良尼（1887-1968
examples. The Sui dynasty emperors used this invigoration 年）早於1940年駐華期間（1938-46年），在北京
of Buddhist faith as an opportunity to embark on major 從 Mathias Komor 購得。本像雕工、選材，與山西
building projects, including the construction of pagodas, 天龍山石窟相近，其中尤與第十六窟斷代北齊之造
temples and religious statuary, as a means of unifying the 像甚似，見幾例菩薩首像，載於《天龍山石窟》，
fragmented empire. This religio-political agenda also led to
increased communication across eastern Eurasia, which 北京，2004年，圖版145-147、151及156。相類首像另
contributed to the transmission of Buddhist concepts and 有三例，據傳均出自天龍山，其一，貯明尼亞波利斯
artistic styles from South and Central Asia into China and 美術館，編號MIA.L2015.172.8；其餘二例，藏東京根
from China to Korea and Japan. This had the concurrent 津美術館，編號 NZM.20081 及 NZM.20065。仍可比
effect of diversifying the visual vocabulary of each region of 較一觀音像，蓄底特律美術館，館藏編號26.128，銘
the empire.
文紀581年，據喜龍仁研究，乃陝西或河南所出，錄
This is an exquisite sculpture with a prestigious provenance 於《Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth
dating back to 1940, when it was acquired from Mathias
Komor in Beijing by Francesco Maria, Marchese Taliani de Century》，卷1及4，紐約，1925年，圖版305。
Marchio (1887-1968), an Italian diplomat who served as
Ambassador to China between 1938 and 1946. In the style 參考一尊北齊砂岩石佛首像，曾展於《China Cultuur
of carving and texture of the stone, it is reminiscent of Vroeger en nu （中國文化之古往今來）》，文
sculptures from the Tianlongshan Caves, Shanxi province, 化藝術中心 （Centrum coor Kunst en Cultuur），根
and most closely related to the sculpture from Cave 16, 特，1979年，編號 292，又載於《Ancient Chinese and
traditionally assigned to the Northern Qi dynasty. See
several bodhisattva heads published in Tianlongshan shi Sculpture》，埃斯卡納齊，倫敦，2005年，編號8，後
ku [Tianlongshan grottoes], Beijing, 2004, pls 145-147, 151 售於香港蘇富比2014年4月7日，編號3604。
and 156. Further related heads believed to have come from
Tianlongshan include one in the Minneapolis Museum of Art,
Minneapolis, coll. no. MIA.L2015.172.8; and two in the Nezu
Museum, Tokyo, coll. nos NZM.20081 and NZM.20065.
Compare also a carved figure of Guanyin in the Detroit
Institute of Arts, accession no. 26.128, dated by inscription
to 581 and attributed to Shaanxi or Henan province by
Osvald Sirén in Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the
Fourteenth Century, vols 1 and 4, New York, 1925, pl. 305.
For a Northern Qi sandstone head sold at auction, see the
image of Buddha included in the exhibition, China Cultuur
Vroeger en nu [Chinese culture past & present], Centrum
voor Kunst en Cultuur [Centre for arts and culture], Gent,
1979, no. 292 and illustrated in Ancient Chinese Bronze and
Sculpture, Eskenazi Ltd., London, 2005, cat. no. 8, and sold
in these rooms, 7th April 2014, lot 3604.

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