Page 146 - 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 596

A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF VAIROCANA , LIAO DYNASTY
Estimate: 200,000 - 300,000 USD

A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF VAIROCANA
LIAO DYNASTY
遼 銅鎏金大日如來佛坐像

beautifully cast, the seated deity in vajraparyankasana with the hands in the 'fist of widsom' or 'lightning' mudra, crowned with a
tall diadem with the five Tathagata Buddhas set in medallions relief-cast over a ground of incised scrollwork and tied with
streaming sashes, a rock crystal or glass urna inset above demilune brows, half-closed bowed eyes, and an aquiline nose, the body
adorned in elaborate jewelry and draped robes, supported by a blossoming lotus throne raised on a faceted and stepped pierced
octagonal base, covered overall in a rich gilding, Japanese wood box (5)

Height 8⅝ in., 21.9 cm

Exhibition
Gilt Bronze Buddhas in Sui-Tang Dynasty, Kuboso Memorial Museum, Izumi, 1993, cat. no. 133.

展覽
《隋唐時代の金銅仏》，和泉市久保惣記念美術館，1993年，編號133

Catalogue Note
This rare and richly gilded figure belongs to a small group of exquisitely modeled Buddhist gilt-bronze sculptures of the Liao
dynasty characterized by their round faces and tall crowns festooned with ribbons, similar to those worn by the Khitan rulers. The
Khitan people who lived along the Liao River valley, along the frontiers of the Chinese empire, had been vassals of the Tang

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