Page 56 - CHRISTIE'S Buddhist Art Japanese Collections 09/14/17

824

A MINIATURE GILT-BRONZE
STANDING FIGURE OF A
BODHISATTVA

SUI DYNASTY (AD 581-618)

The fgure is shown standing on a stepped, circular lotus plinth with the raised
right hand holding a willow branch and the left hand holding a kamandalu
(‘holy water’ bottle), and wearing long bead necklaces adorned with ‘rosette
jewels’. The head is backed by a fame-form aureole surrounding the circular
‘bead’-encircled nimbus.
2¡ in.( 6.1 cm.) high, wood stand

$3,000-5,000

PROVENANCE

Private collection, Japan, acquired prior to 1930.
This miniature fgure exhibits aspects of large stone fgures of bodhisattvas
of Sui dynasty date, such as the stif pose and the type of ‘rosette jewels’
that decorate the long, looped bead necklace. For two stone fgures of this
type see Matsubara Saburo, Chugoku Bukkyo Chokokushi ron (The Path
of Chinese Buddhist Sculpture), vol. 2, Tokyo, 1995, pl. 534 b, in the Beilin
Museum, Xian, and pl. 585 a, in the Freer Gallery of Art.

隋 鎏金銅菩薩立像

54