Page 61 - CHRISTIE'S Buddhist Art Japanese Collections 09/14/17

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A SMALL GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF A
BODHISATTVA

TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)

The bodhisattva is shown standing in tribangha on a waisted lotus base, with a
willow branch held in the raised right hand and a kamandalu (‘holy water’ bottle)
dangling from the left hand, and wearing a skirt folded over below the waist, bead
necklaces, and scarves that fall in rippling openwork down the sides. The round
face is framed by long ribbons that trail from the peaked crown.
3¡ in. (8.6 cm.) high, wood stand

$5,000-7,000

PROVENANCE

Private collection, Japan, acquire prior to 1930.
Gilt-bronze fgures of bodhisattvas of this type were made in various sizes during
the Tang dynasty. This diminutive fgure, with its typical graceful tribangha stance
and scarves swirling in ripples down the sides of the body, is similar to one
illustrated by Jin Shen in Hai wai ji Gang Yai cang li dai fo xiang: zhen pin ji nian
tu jian (Catalogue of Treasures of Buddhist Sculpture in Overseas Collections
Including Hong Kong and Taiwan), Shanxi, 2007, p. 503 (upper right). As with the
current fgure, a willow branch is held in the raised right hand and a kamandalu
in the left. See, also, the very similar rippling depiction of the scarf on the fgure
illustrated in Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Buddhist Statues in
Overseas Collections, Beijing, 2005, vol. 5, pl. 941.

唐 鎏金銅觀音菩薩立像

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