Page 50 - Christie's Fine Chiense Works of Art November 2018 London

Recent radiological examination reveals that the interior 1 Note that 菩薩 is a contraction of 菩提薩埵, which is a Chinese transliteration of the
Sanskrit term “bodhisattva”.
of this sculpture indeed houses small, consecratory 2 For information on bodhisattvas, see: Robert E. Buswell, Jr. and Donald S. Lopez, Jr.,
objects. The radiographs reveal that those objects include The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press), 2013;
Leslie S. Kawamura, The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhism (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada:
a miniature scroll—likely a short sutra or an excerpt from a Published by Wilfrid Laurier University for the Canadian Corporation for Studies in
Religion), 1981; A.L. Basham, “The Evolution of the Concept of the Bodhisattva” in
sutra—four beads(?), various textile fragments, and several Kawamura, The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhism, 1981; Paul Williams, Mahayana
items not easily identifed in radiographs. Religious in Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations, 2nd edition, in the Library of Religious Beliefs and
Practices series (New York: Routledge), 2009; Chün-fang Yü, Kuan-Yin: The Chinese
nature, such items seldom are dated and rarely include any Transformation of Avalokitesvara (New York: Columbia University Press), 2001.
3 See: Angela Falco Howard et al., Chinese Sculpture in The Culture and Civilization of
information that would convey insight into the sculpture’s
China series (New Haven: Yale University Press; and Beijing: Foreign Languages Press),
place or other circumstances of manufacture. 2006, p. 228.
4 Adapted from Denise Patry Leidy, Donna Strahan et al., Wisdom Embodied:
A stylistically related sculpture from the Yongle period and Chinese Buddhist and Daoist Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York:
Metropolitan Museum of Art; and New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press),
representing Avalokiteshvara sold at Christie’s, New York, 2010, pp. 148-151, no. 37.
9
in March 2014 (lot 1622). A sculpture kindred in subject, 5 For information on Tibetan infuence on Chinese Buddhist art in the early ffteenth
century, see Denise Leidy, “Buddhist Art”, in James C.Y. Watt and Denise Leidy, Defning
style, and general appearance to the present sculpture Yongle: Imperial Art in Early Fifteenth-Century China (New York: Metropolitan Museum
10
is in the collection of the Museum Rietberg, Zurich. of Art; and New Haven, CT: Yale University Press), 2005, pp. 61-101.
6 Adapted from Leidy and Strahan, Wisdom Embodied, pp. 148-151, no. 37.
And a stylistically related sculpture representing Seated
7 For the classic English-language study on the inclusion of dedicatory objects within the
Bodhisattva Tara in her “Green Manifestation” is in the cavities of hollow religious sculptures, see: John M. Rosenfeld, “The Sedgwick Statue
11
collection of the Harvard Art Museums (1992.289). A of the Infant Shotoku Taishi,” Archives of Asian Art, vol. 22 (1968-69), pp. 56-79. Also
see: Chandra L. Reedy, “The Opening of Consecrated Tibetan Bronzes with Interior
stylistically related, Xuande-marked, gilt bronze sculpture Contents: Scholarly, Conservation, and Ethical Considerations”, Journal of the American
Institute for Conservation, vol. 30, no. 1 (1991), pp. 13-34.
representing Vajrapani sold at Christie’s, Hong Kong, on 8 For an image of the interior of a chronologically and stylistically related Chinese
12
26 November 2014 (lot 3107). And a kindred Xuande- sculpture from the Yongle period (1403–1424) with dedicatory objects packed inside,
see: Leidy and Strahan, Wisdom Embodied, p. 151, fg. 110; for an image of one of
marked, gilt bronze depicting Avalokiteshvara and dated by the miniature scrolls removed from that sculpture, see: Leidy and Strahan, Wisdom
Embodied, pp. 150-151, fg. 109.
inscription to 1435 sold at Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, on 8 April 9 See: Christie’s, The Sublime and the Beautiful: Asian Masterpieces of Devotion, 20
2011 (lot 2839). 13 March 2014 (New York: Christie’s), 2014, pp. 110-115, lot 1622.
10 See: Helmut Uhlig, On the Path to Enlightenment: The Berti Aschmann Foundation of
Tibetan Art at the Museum Rietberg Zurich (Zurich: Museum Rietberg), 1995, p. 98, no.
52.
11 See: “A Decade of Collecting: Arthur M. Sackler Museum”, Harvard University Art
Museums Bulletin, vol. 7, no. 2 (Spring 2000), p. 10; Sherman E. Lee and Wai-kam Ho,
Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) (Cleveland: Cleveland
Museum of Art), 1968, no. 16.
12 See: Christie’s, Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 26 November 2014
(Hong Kong: Christie’s), 2014, lot 3107.
13 See: Sotheby’s, Vestiges from China’s Imperial History, 8 April 2011 (Hong Kong:
Sotheby’s), 2011, lot 2839.