Page 66 - Chiense works of art sothebys march 14 2017 nyc

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543 A BRONZE FIGURE OF ‘WATERMOON’
64 SOTHEBY’S GUANYIN
SONG DYNASTY

seated in rajalilasana with the left foot pendent upon a lotus
blossom, the right leg gracefully raised supporting the right arm
on the knee, wearing a dhoti falling into elegant folds, the chest
adorned with a beaded necklace, the face with a benevolent
expression, crowned by a tall headdress centered by a gure
of Amitabha Buddha, all within a large grotto of stylized rocks,
supported on a high waisted rockwork pedestal on a stepped
rectangular plinth (2)
Height 8⅛ in., 20.5 cm

The image of Avalokitesvara seated within a grotto representing
Mount Potalaka is typically known as the ‘Watermoon’ Guanyin
within Chinese iconography, and is derived from a passage in
the Avatamsaka Sutra, the ‘Flower Garland’ Sutra, which relates
the spiritual journey of a youth, Sudhana, who is advised by the
bodhisattva of Wisdom, Manjusri, to visit fty-three di erent
beings in his quest for ultimate truth.

The present lot belongs to a small group of ‘Watermoon’ Guanyin
gures that still retain their original grotto stand. See two closely

related examples, one o ered in our New York rooms, 22nd
September 2004, lot 22, and the other sold in our London rooms,
7th June 1988, lot 35.

Compare also a similar gure with stand, but lacking the grotto,
in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., illustrated by Hugo
Munsterberg, Chinese Buddhist Bronzes, Tokyo, 1967, pl. 69,
and another sold at Christie’s London, 10th December 1990, lot
38. For examples without the stand, see two sold in our London
rooms, 9th June 2004, lot 134 and 12th June 1990, lot 27.

$ 40,000-60,000

543

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF JEANETTE CURUBY

A BRONZE FIGURE OF GUANYIN
LATE SONG / EARLY YUAN DYNASTY, 13TH
CENTURY

cast seated in lalitasana with right arm resting on the right knee
and left arm supported on a bolster and holding a ‘pearl’, wearing
a sanghati, antaravasaka, elaborate jewelry and foliate tiara
centered by the gure of Amitabha Buddha above the full face
with downcast eyes, the pierced rockwork base with a monkey,
dragon and ox gazing upward towards the deity, wood stand (2)
Height 10¼ in., 26 cm

PROVENANCE
Acquired in Boston 1940-1960s, and thence by descent.

A similar example dated Song dynasty, 13th century, but with
attendants in place of the monkey and ox, is illustrated in The
Crucible of Compassion and Wisdom: Special Exhibition Catalog
of the Buddhist Bronzes from the Nitta Group Collection at the
National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1987, pl. 104.

$ 5,000-7,000

1940 1960