Page 400 - Chinese Works of Art Chritie's Mar. 22-23 2018

VARIOUS PROPERTIES
1042
A RARE LICCHAVI-REVIVAL-STYLE GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF MAITREYA
MONGOLIA, 17TH-18TH CENTURY
The bodhisattva is seated on a double-lotus base holding the stem of a fower in his right hand and a water
vessel and malla beads in his left. He wears a dhoti secured at the waist with a belt and is adorned with
various jewelry and an antelope skin over the left shoulder. The face is serene in expression, with the hair
arranged in a chignon fronted by an image of a stupa.
8Ω in. (21.6 cm.) high

$40,000-60,000

PROVENANCE
Christie’s New York, 23 March 2010, lot 261.
The present fgure represents a revival of earlier Nepalese traditions, particularly that of the Licchavi
period (approximately AD 400-750). Other examples from this group include a gilt-bronze fgure
of Maitreya Buddha, illustrated by D. Weldon and J. Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet:
Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 121, pl. 27, and a gilt-bronze fgure
of Avalokiteshvara in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Fig. 1) Such works are
characterized by the sensitive treatment of the fngers and facial features. The Licchavi prototypes
for these works, such as the large gilt-bronze fgure of a seated Maitreya from the collection of Robert
Hatfeld Ellsworth and sold at Christie’s New York, 17 March 2015, lot 27, were prized throughout Tibet
and Mongolia, and must have inspired the artisans of the 17th and 18th century in the creation of these
new images.
蒙古 十七/十八世紀 銅鎏金離車毗式彌勒佛坐像

Fig. 1 Seated Avalokiteshvara, Tibet or Mongolia, 17th century, gilt-copper alloy,
8 ½ in. (21.6 cm.) high. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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