Page 38 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist Art, New York

36 SOTHEBY’S NEW YORK 10 SEPTEMBER 2019 BODIES OF INFINITE LIGHT

ith the rise in practitioners’ worship, images of
Avalokiteshvara increased significantly during the Tang 唐代供奉觀世音菩薩的信眾日漸增長，造
W dynasty, strictly portraying the bodhisattva as a male, and 像數量隨之增加，但大部分以男身形象呈
often with a mustache. Avalokiteshvara was occasionally portrayed 獻，且續鬍。觀音或有時以善財童子形象
with the youth Sudhana (a figure mentioned in the Avatamsaka Sutra; 現身（源自《華嚴經》，見編號322討論）。
for further discussion see lot 322) however the maternal, feminine 然而直到十一世紀，女身帶童子形像的
form of the deity with a young child did not appear until the 11th 觀音方始出現。男身與女身的觀音像一
直到明末皆可見，直到後來較為女性化的
century. The portrayal of the deity continued in both male and female 造型更為普遍。送子觀音形象很有可能
forms until the late Ming dynasty, when the feminine form became 就是這個時期產生的。Chelsea Foxwell
prevalent. Songzi Guanyin, Avalokiteshvara with a child, likely first 在〈Merciful Mother Kannon and Its
appeared at this time. As discussed by Chelsea Foxwell in ‘’Merciful Audiences〉，《The Art Bulletin》，卷92，
Mother Kannon’ and Its Audiences’, The Art Bulletin, vol. 92, no. 4, 編號4，2010年12月，頁330，討論送子觀
December 2010, p. 330, it is possible that the ‘Avalokiteshvara with 音像可能是源自聖母瑪利亞像，由歐洲傳
a child’ iconography was inspired by images of the Madonna and 教士在約1600年間傳入中國。康熙時期也
Child, introduced to China by Jesuit missionaries circa 1600. Ceramic 見德化瓷雕聖母瑪利亞像，間接證明此說
法。此尊送子觀音像，底座飾道教紋飾，可
groups of the Christian subject also appear in Kangxi period Dehua 見當時對不同宗教及當地文化的接受度甚
kiln production, supporting this hypothesis. The inclusion of Daoist 高，相互融合。
emblems on the present figure’s base further points to a fluidity and
inclusiveness in Chinese folk religion. 送子觀音源自《妙法蓮華經》觀世音菩薩
《普門品》，《法華經》中說: 「若有女人
The concept of the child-granting Avalokiteshvara originates in 設欲求男，禮拜供養觀世音菩薩，便生福
the Pumen Pin chapter of the Lotus Sutra, often reproduced as a 德智慧之男；設欲求女，便生端正有相之
standalone sutra and recited in order to invoke the deity directly. The 女。」
sutra states that Avalokiteshvara will grant devout practitioners a Foxwell錄於同上文章，圖5，一件1609
handsome son or a virtuous daughter, among other wishes. 年的木板畫，描繪觀音托一童子，藏於哥
倫比亞大學的C. V. Starr東亞圖書館。再
A 1609 woodblock print of White-Robed Avalokiteshvara holding a 比一明代十六世紀送子觀音像，為大都會
son, in the collection of the C. V. Starr East Asian library at Columbia 藝術博物館藏，紐約，館藏編號1989.152。
University, is reproduced by Foxwell, ibid., fig. 5. See also a painting 另可參考兩尊明代送子觀音坐像，整體
attributed to the Ming dynasty, late 16th century, depicting Guanyin 風格及紋飾相近，售於倫敦蘇富比1983
holding a young boy, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of 年4月15日，編號108及1984年11月2日，
Art, New York, acc. no. 1989.152. Compare the present figure with 編號341。
two seated gilt-bronze figures of Avalokiteshvara with a child, both
attributed to the Ming dynasty and with similar features, and treatment
of the ornaments and garments, sold in our London rooms, the first on
15th April, 1983, lot 108, the other on 2nd November, 1984, lot 341.