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A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF A SEATED 唐 銅鎏金釋迦牟尼佛坐像
BUDDHA, TANG DYNASTY
lacquer stand, Japanese wood box (5) 來源
Height 4⅝ in., 11.7 cm 紐約蘇富比2005年9月22日，編號10
展覽
PROVENANCE
《Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese Buddhist Gilt
Sotheby’s New York, 22nd September 2005, lot 10.
Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection》，
EXHIBITED 休士頓美術館，休士頓，2017-2018年
Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes 文獻
from the Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection, Museum of Leopold Swergold，《Thoughts on Chinese Buddhist Gilt
Fine Arts, Houston, 2017-2018.
Bronzes》，阿文圖拉，2014年，編號16
LITERATURE Beatrice Chan，〈Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese
Leopold Swergold, Thoughts on Chinese Buddhist Gilt Buddhist Gilt Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold
Bronzes, Aventura, 2014, cat. no. 16. Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston〉，
Beatrice Chan, ‘Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese 《Arts of Asia》，2018年1至2月，頁58-65
Buddhist Gilt Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold
Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’, Arts of Asia,
January/February 2018, pp. 58-65.
Perched serenely atop a grand lotus pedestal, this intricately
cast and somewhat atypical figure is a rare and fine example
of the small ‘Teaching Buddhas’ produced for private use in
the mid-Tang dynasty. While the precise iconography of this
figure remains unclear by virtue of a rather indistinct mudra,
the effect of its grand flowing robes, characterful expression
and towering pedestal immediately imbue the figure (likely of
Amitabha or Shakyamuni Buddha) with sense of regal beauty.
Personal votive images of this type were produced in a range
of sizes and styles, the present being a particularly fine and
expressive example. Compare a similar image of slightly
larger proportions but similar mudra and treatment of the
robes, formerly in Nitta Collection and now in the collection
of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in The
Crucible of Compassion and Wisdom, Taipei, 1987, pl. 76; a
second figure complete with foliate mandorla, in the Asian
Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated in Hai-Wai Yi-Chen.
Chinese Art in Overseas Collections. Buddhist Sculpture,
vol. 1, Taipei, 1986, pl. 81; a third with closely related flowing
robes and crosshatching to the under-garment, in the Sano
Art Museum, Mishima, illustrated alongside two others in
Saburō Matsubara, Chūgoku Bukkyō chōkoku shiron [History
of Chinese Buddhist sculpture], vol. III, Tokyo, 1995, pl. 709;
a related pair in the Shanghai Museum, ibid., pl. 720; and
another slightly smaller figure, sold in these rooms, 22nd
September 2004, lot 16.
$ 50,000-70,000

156 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11744 A COLLECTING JOURNEY: THE JANE AND LEOPOLD SWERGOLD COLLECTION 157