Page 50 - Bonhams, Images of Devotion, April 21 2021

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A GILT LACQUER COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF BUDDHA
MING DYNASTY, 15TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.16886
30 cm (11 3/4 in.) high

HKD150,000 - 250,000

明 十五世紀 銅漆金佛陀像

Shakyamuni is depicted, with his right hand in bhumisparsha mudra, having
attained blissful nirvana. Compared with similar Ming examples, the face of this
Buddha sculpture is quite exceptional, exhibiting a sweet quietude. Elegant folds
within the robe and finely chased floral patterns along the hems also attest to its
quality of casting and meticulous attention to detail.

The soft, rounded face, robust body, and bold, stylized lotus base attribute a
fifteenth-century date. Compare a related gilt-bronze figure of Bhaishajyaguru
Buddha, dated to the first year of Jingtai (1450), illustrated in Gems of Beijing
Cultural Relics Series: Buddhist Statues (I), Beijing, 1999, p.153, no.115. Also
compare a related gilt-bronze figure of Buddha in the Munsterberg Collection
(Munsterberg, Chinese Buddhist Bronzes, New York, 1988, pls.18a and 18b).
Two closely related examples of Ming gilt-lacquered figures of Buddha were sold at
Christie’s New York, 24-25 March 2011, lot 1630 & 22-23 March 2012, lot 1778.

Provenance
Dr. Manser Collection, acquired in Beijing in the 1930s
Earle J. Stone, San Diego, California, 1977
Private Collection, Bloomington, Indiana

48 | BONHAMS