Page 121 - 2020 Sept Important Chinese Art Sotheby's NYC Asia Week

9/2/2020 Important Chinese Art | Sotheby's

Impo rtant Chinese Art
New York |23 Sep 2020 | 09:00 AM EDT

Lot 579

A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF AVALOKITESHVARA , SUI - EARLY TANG DYNASTY
Estimate: 30,000 - 50,000 USD

A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF AVALOKITESHVARA
SUI - EARLY TANG DYNASTY
隋至唐初 銅鎏金觀音立像

standing with a slight curve to the hip in a subtle contrapposto, crowned with a large diadem centered by a figure of Amitabha, with
sashes, a long necklace, and flowing robes draped about the body, a bottle in the lowered hand, the other raised and holding a
willow branch, all raised on a lotus pedestal further supported by a faceted base, an integral tall, peaked, pierced mandorla behind
the figure, mounted to a modern base, Japanese wood box (4)

Height 4½ in., 11.2 cm

Catalogue Note
The iconography of the present figure, bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara with a willow branch, can be linked to the importance placed
on the the Dharani Sutra of Invoking Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara to Dissipate and Subdue Poison and Harm (Qing Guanshiyin
Pusa xiaofu duhai tuoluoni zhoujing), first translated from Sanskrit to Chinese by Zhu Nanti of the Eastern Jin dynasty, in which
Buddha directs ailing disciples to offer Avalokiteshvara willow branches and clean water in order to receive his great mercy.

Compare a similar figure, dated 595, raised on a quadruped stand and holding a cintamani in place of the willow, in the British
Museum, London, illustrated in Hugo Munsterberg, Chinese Buddhist Bronzes, Tokyo, 1967, pl. 49. Two other related gilt-bronze
figures of Avalokiteshvara with pierced mandorlas and similar bases, both attributed to the Sui period, are illustrated in Saburo
Matsubara, Chinese Buddhist Sculpture: A study based on bronze and stone statues other than works from cave temples, Tokyo,

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