Page 50 - 2019 September 9th Bonhams Important Chinese Works of Art

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF DRS. EDMUND AND
JULIE LEWIS

849
A FINE AND RARE GILT-LACQUERED BRONZE FIGURE OF
GUANYIN
10th/11th century
Cast with a gentle, contemplative expression, the hair worn in a
topknot with knotted tresses falling over the shoulders, seated in
rajalalitasana with right arm resting on the raised right knee, the left
hand resting on the level surface to arm support the weight, wearing a
sash tied across the left shoulder and a long dhoti secured by a sash
around the waist, adorned with floral earrings, elaborate necklace, and
beaded armbands.
8 1/8in (20.7cm) high

$50,000 - 70,000
十/十一世紀 銅漆金自在觀音坐像

Provenance:
Giselle Croes, 6 September 2006
Collection van Tieghem

來源:
Giselle Croes, 2006年9月6日
van Tieghem舊藏

Bodhisattvas seated in the posture of ‘royal ease’ with right leg
raised and left leg extended in front, depicting the “water-moon
shuiyue guanyin also referred to as a Potala guanyin first appeared
in paintings in China during the late Tang dynasty, and reached the
height of popularity in sculpture in the Song period. See Denise Leidy’s
discussion of the Metropolitan Museum’s Shuiyue Guanyin (28.56,
Flectcher Fund, 1928) in Wisdom Embodied: Chinese Buddhist and
Daoist Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011, no. 24 pp. 116-119.

The slender form and sumptuous garments of the Lewis guanyin
find parallels in the diminutive wood Cleveland Museum of Art Potala
guanyin, dated to the Five Dynasties (907-960) period (1965.556, Gift
of Mrs. A Dean Perry). See also a small gilt bronze Water and Moon
(Potala) Guanyin in Cleveland (1984.7, the Severance and Greta Millikin
Purchase Fund), dated to the Five Dynasties-Song period (960-1279),
17.6cm (6 5/16cm). A Liao-Jin dynasty example of a wood figure in
the same pose and attire was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 May
2018, lot 2858. A Song-Yuan dynasty gilt-lacquered bronze figure in
the same pose was sold at Sotheby’s New York, 16 September 2017,
lot 874.

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