Page 322 - Christie's Asia Week March 2024 Chinese Art

IMPORTANT CHINESE ART INCLUDING THE COLLECTION OF DOROTHY TAPPER GOLDMAN

The Property of a Gentleman
1204 ૈ♥珍藏
A FINELY CARVED BAIFURONG SOAPSTONE 清康熙 芙蓉⊅雕送子觀音像
GUANYIN AND AN ACOLYTE GROUP Ϝ源
KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722) Spink Son Ltd.，і敦 據標籤
鄧蓮如女⁸Ḍ珍藏，香港 英४
5q in. (14 cm.) high, cloth box і敦ωૈ得，2010年3月14日，拍品編號135
$30,000-50,000
PROVENANCE:
Spink & Son Ltd., London (according to label).
Lydia, Baroness Dunn Collection, Hong Kong / United Kingdom.
Christie’s South Kensington, 14 March 2010, lot 135.

The present soapstone figure of Guanyin, depicted with a standing
boy worshipping, can be identified as Songzi Guanyin, the Goddess
Giver of Children. The origin of Songzi Guanyin can be traced in the
Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma, where it is mentioned
that "if a fertile woman, wishing for a son, prays to Guanyin every
week, her son will be blessed with fortune and intelligence; if she is
wishing for a daughter, her daughter will be blessed with grace and
beauty." According to Terese Bartholomew in Hidden Meanings in
Chinese Art, San Francisco, 2006, p. 58, Chinese couples are expected
to produce sons soon after their marriage who will perpetuate the
family name and continue to worship the ancestors, praying to various
gods and goddesses known to bless barren couples with children, such
as Guanyin. The soapstone material used for this exquisite figure is
baifurong, a variety of furong stone that ranges in color from white to
pale creamy beige, found at the Jialiang mountains, located about eight
kilometers outside of Shoushan village in Fujian province. The large
size of the current figure and the naturalistic details of the carving
distinguish it as among the finest soapstone carvings of the 17th and
18th centuries.
The distinguished provenance of this figure is noteworthy. It was
once part of the collection of the Rt Hon. Baroness Dunn, an
acclaimed businesswoman and politician. In 1981, she became the
first woman to sit on the board of directors of HSBC (Hong Kong and
Shanghai Banking Corporation); from 1992 to 2008, she served as
the bank’s Deputy Chairman. In 1989, she was appointed DBE (Dame
Commander) and later became the first Chinese woman to be elevated
to the British peerage in Queen Elizabeth II’s 1990 Birthday Honours.
She was introduced to the House of Lords as Baroness Dunn, of Hong
Kong Island in Hong Kong and of Knightsbridge in the Royal Borough
of Kensington and Chelsea on 24 August 1990. Baroness Dunn was also
awarded the Prime Minister of Japan's Trade Award in 1987 and the
United States' Secretary of Commerce award in 1988.
(detail)

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