Page 67 - Chinese Art Paris Auction Christie's December 2017

PROVENANCE
Collection of the late French diplomat Georges Dubail (1845-1932),
acquired in China prior to 1906.
The similarities of their elaborate casting quality and the inscriptions
suggest that these two fgures might have been part of a larger
group, all ofered by the same donor, a lady named Zhu from the
Wang family in Gusu, a district of Suzhou. Manjushri (Wenshu), the
Bodhisattva of Wisdom, usually shown seated on a lion holding either
a ruyi sceptre or a sword, is often associated with Samantabhadra
(Puxian), ‘He whose bounty is omnipresent’, as the acolytes of buddha
Shakyamuni, forming a group known as the ‘three venerables of
Shakyamuni’.
Compare to a larger 15th century inscribed and dated bronze
Manjushri seated on a lion, sold in Christie’s New York, 17 September
2015, lot 2134.
TWO RARE DATED AND INSCRIBED BRONZE FIGURES OF
MANJUSHRI AND SAMANTABHADRA (back)
CHINA, QING DYNASTY, DATED EIGHTH MONTH OF JIAWU CY-
CLICAL YEAR OF KANGXI PERIOD (CORRESPONDING TO 1714)
清康熙 1714年 銅銘文普賢及文殊像 一組兩件
來源：法國外交官呂班 Georges Dubail (1845-1932)舊藏，
於1906年前購自中國

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