Page 69 - SOTHEBYS MARCH 18 AND 19 2025

Standing firmly yet elegantly before a flaming mandalora, 此尊立像為鎏金銅蓮華手觀音，乃觀音化現之一。依
this remarkable figure depicts Padmapani, the lotus- 銘文，知為東魏武定二年造。北魏（386-534年）瓦
bearing manifestation of the bodhisattva Avalokitshvara 解後，東魏建朝，於534-550年間統治華北。東魏蓮
(known in Chinese as Guanyin), as the embodiment of regal 華手觀音造像雖存印度風格，然漢化程度較北魏更進
splendor and tranquility. Adorning the base of the stele,
below an intricate carving of the Buddha, lies an inscription 一步，原犍陀羅影響淡去，如衣紋等處。北魏造像效
dating the piece to the Eastern Wei dynasty. Following 法印度，線條曼麗，腰身婀娜，斜首微傾，反觀此
the disintegration of the Northern Wei around 534 CE, 尊，則直立挺拔。論工藝，亦屬卓絕，背光反側線刻
the Eastern Wei took up the mantle of governing northern 坐佛一尊。比一鎏金銅蓮華手觀音，543年造，藏東
China. Although sculpture from this period retained some 京國立博物館，錄於《龍泉集芳》，東京，1976年，
of the Indian influences of its predecessor, Eastern Wei 圖版117。另比一東魏鎏金銅彌勒佛，536年造，端
figures like the present Padmapani have a number of more 方（1861-1911年）舊藏，現存費城賓夕法尼亞大學
sinicized features. While the Gandharan-inspired works of 考古學與人類學博物館（編號C355.1），見喜龍仁，
the Northern Wei generally feature more rigid draping robes,
curvilinear contours, slim bodies, and gently tilted heads, the 《Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Cen-
current figure stands tall and straight. tury》，紐約，1925年，圖版158。再比較一北魏鎏金
銅蓮華手觀音，日本和泉市久保惣記念美術館藏，
Similar depictions of Padmapani from this period are rare. 錄於《六朝時代の金銅仏》，和泉市，1991年，編
Compare another gilt-bronze figure of Padmapani, dated to 號48。仍有一例相似，存哈佛藝術博物館，Grenville
543, in the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated in Mayuyama,
Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 117; and a related Eastern Wei L. Winthrop 捐贈，編號1943.53.81。另有多例重要收
gilt-bronze figure of Maitreya, dated to 536, formerly in the 藏，圖見於松原三郎，《中国仏敎彫刻史論》，卷
collection of Duanfang (1861-1911) and now in the collection 一，東京，1995年，圖版73、74，及86-88。
of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology
and Anthropology, Philadelphia (accession no. C355.1),
illustrated by Osvald Sirén, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to
the Fourteenth Century, New York, 1925, pl. 158. Other similar
gilt-bronze figures of Padmapani dated to the Northern Wei
can also be found in the Kuboso Memorial Museum of Arts,
Izumi, Japan, illustrated in Rikuchou Jidai No Kondoubutsu [Gilt-
bronze Buddhist figures from the Six Dynasties], Izumi, 1991,
cat. no. 48; preserved in the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge,
from the collection of Grenville L. Winthrop (accession no.
1943.53.81); and in various important collections of early
Buddhist bronzes in Saburō Matsubara, Chūgoku Bukkyō
chōkoku shiron [History of Chinese Buddhist sculpture], vol. I,
Tokyo, 1995, pls 73, 74, and 86-88.

134 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11744 A COLLECTING JOURNEY: THE JANE AND LEOPOLD SWERGOLD COLLECTION 135