Page 131 - Chiense works of art sothebys march 14 2017 nyc

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PROPERTY FROM A NEW ENGLAND COLLECTION Images of the infant Buddha cast in bronze 1950 2010
standing and pointing up to the sky are more Raimann Raimann
A RARE PAINTED POTTERY FIGURE commonly found; see several examples included
OF A BOY in the exhibition The Casting of Religion. A Special
SONG DYNASTY Exhibition of Mr. Peng Kai-dong’s Donation, National
Palace Museum, Taipei, 2004, cat. nos 178-185.
naturalistically modeled, the softly rounded gure
seated with legs outstretched, arms down at the The dating of this lot is consistent with the
sides with hands clenched in opposing directions, result of a thermoluminescence test, Oxford
a raised line below the neck indicate the now- Authentication Ltd., sample no. C205m5, 16th
abraded presence of a foliate-painted apron, December 2005.
the plump-cheeked face with nely-articulated
features, alert open eyes, and the mouth drawn $ 40,000-60,000
up in a contented half smile, adorned with
bracelets to both wrists and an amulet around
the neck, traces of white slip and pigment
Height 11¾ in., 30 cm

PROVENANCE

German Private Collection, 1950s.
Raimann & Raimann, Weisbaden, Germany, 2010.

The present gure is exceptional for the deft
quality of the modeling. A seated pottery gure
of a young boy, also perhaps depicting the infant
Buddha, of similar scale, with hands raised, one
holding a peach, was o ered in these rooms 21st
September 2005, lot 60. Similar smaller pottery
of depictions of boys with nely drawn features
and somewhat elongated heads, are known, see
a group of seven painted pottery gures, from a
tomb dated to 1113 CE, excavated in Zhenjiang
city, Jiangsu province, Zhenjiang City Museum,
illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji, diaosubian,
vol. 5, Beijing, 1988, pl. 173.

A gilt-lacquered wood gure of a seated boy,
of similar proportions, attributed to the Song /
Jin Dynasty is illustrated and discussed in The
Immortals of the Past, Kaikodo Journal, Spring
2014, Kaikodo, New York, cat. no. 56.

Representations of the seated infant Buddha are
rare. A bronze example of an infant Buddha in
meditation pose was sold in our London rooms
5th November 2008, lot 105

IMPORTANT CHINESE ART 129