Page 61 - Bonhams Chinese Paintings June 2015

7086

Property from the Estate of Stephen Longstreet

7086
A lacquered wood partial Buddhist figure
Yuan/early Ming dynasty
Likely a figure of Shakyamuni as suggested by the bare chest, remains of a monk’s outer
garment covering the left shoulder and the elongated pierced ears, his head displaying an
unusual profile with a wide, low forehead below the ushnisha, curving brows cut as raised
ridges above the downcast eyes, and bee-stung lips above the tapered jawline.
26in (66cm) high
$20,000 - 30,000

The wide forehead, ridged eyebrows and distinctive lips on this figure recall features in a
rare dry lacquer seated bodhisattva at the Freer Gallery of Art, dated to the Yuan dynasty or
earlier: see the discussion of its date as well as the parallels to Nepalese Buddhist sculpture
from the 13th century in Denise Leity and Donna Strahan, Wisdom Embodied: Chinese
Buddhist and Daoist Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010, fig. 21 and 22,
p.20. See also the face of the small dry lacquer figure of Buddha from J.T. Tai & Co., sold
in Sotheby’s, New York, sale 22 March 2011, (also as Yuan/Early Ming dynasty, 10 1/8in,
25.7cm high). A well-preserved painted wood figure of a seated bodhisattva, carved with
similar facial features, was included in the National Museum of History exhibition Fo diao
zhi mei: Song Yuan mu diao fo xiang jing pin zhan (The Splendour of Buddhist Statuaries:
Chinese Buddhist Wooden Sculpture from Sung and Yuan Dynasties), Taipei, 1997, pp.
54-55 (as Yuan dynasty, 89cm high).

Fine Chinese Works of Art and Paintings | 59