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A RARE GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF LAOJUN, 唐 銅鎏金老君坐像
TANG DYNASTY
Height 3⅞ in., 9.7 cm 來源
Nagatani Inc.，芝加哥，1953年11月2日
PROVENANCE 史蒂芬．瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏
Nagatani Inc., Chicago, 2nd November 1953. 紐約蘇富比2019年9月10日，編號209
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).
Sotheby’s New York, 10th September 2019, lot 209. 本坐像頭頂戴冠，面作重鬚，右手執扇，左臂擱於三
腳几上，為老君像，又稱道德天尊，是道教最高尊神
The present figure, depicts Laojun, also known as Daode 之一，與元始天尊、靈寶天尊合稱「三清」。 道教
Tianzun (Celestial Worthy of the Way and Its Virtue), a 認為先秦思想家老子為老君化身，下凡弘顯道法。
significant deity in the Daoist pantheon. Characterized by his 關於老子的記載最早可追溯至司馬遷所著的《史記》，
full beard and distinctive hat, Laojun is shown holding a fan
in his right hand, with his left arm resting on a three-legged 老君以造像形式出現則要到公元二至三世紀；同一時
armrest. As one of the Three Purities, alongside Yuanshi 期，老子被尊為天地元氣祖宗。漢室傾頹，道家從
Tianjun (Celestial Venerable of the Primordial Beginning) and 一思想流派演變成宗教，發展出教義和戒律。此一
Lingbao Tianzun (Celestial Lord of the Spiritual Treasures), 演變，不離東漢張道陵天師所為，他自稱太上老君
Laojun holds a central place in Daoist belief. 親降，命其廣召弟子，創立教派，即後世所稱的「
In Daoist belief, Laojun is said to have reincarnated 天師道」。
as the renowned Chinese philosopher Laozi to advocate 見兩尊唐代銅鎏金道教造像近例，鬚髯、頭冠和三腳
Daoism. While the first mention of Laozi is found in 几款式相同，載於松原三郎，《中國仏教彫刻史研
the Shiji (Records of Historians) by Sima Qian, depictions 究：特に金銅仏及び石窟造像以外の石仏についての
of the deity in sculptural form did not appear until the 2nd
and 3rd century CE. It is also in this period that Laozi 論考》，東京，1966年，頁312，圖c及d。另可參考
began to be regarded as the central deity of the cosmos. 一老子石像，造型類近，同樣手執寶扇，應為唐代所
The collapse of the Han dynasty had a great impact on the 作，科隆東亞藝術博物館藏，曾見於芝加哥美術館展
development of Daoism, as it turned from a philosophical 覽《Taoism and the Arts of China》，2000年，
current into a religion with a specific set of beliefs and 編號39。另有石龕兩例，中央各刻外形相似的天尊
practices. The transformation is attributed in part to the 像，其中一例紀麟德二年，即公元665年，波士頓美
spiritual leader Zhang Daoling, who lived during the Eastern 術館藏，另外一例紀年694或703年，華盛頓弗瑞爾
Han dynasty, and claimed to have had a revelation of the 美術館藏，載於喜仁龍，《Chinese Sculpture from the
deified Laozi who ordered him to organize his devotees into a
movement, which later came to be known as the Tianshi Dao Fifth to the Fourteenth Century》，卷III，紐約，
(The Way of the Celestial Masters). 1925年，圖版386A及B。

Compare two similar gilt-bronze Daoist figures from the
Tang dynasty, each modeled with the same full beard,
hat and three-legged armrest, illustrated in Saburo
Matsubara, Chinese Buddhist Sculpture. A Study Based on
Bronze and Stone Statues other than from Cave Temples,
Tokyo, 1966, p. 312, figs c and d. See also a stone figure of
Laozi, similarly depicted and also holding a fan, attributed
to the Tang dynasty, in the Museum of East Asian Art,
Cologne, exhibited in Taoism and the Arts of China, Art
Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 2000, cat. no. 39; and two
stone steles, each carved with Tianzun portrayed in a similar
manner flanked by two attendants, one dated by inscription to
the 2nd year of Linde, corresponding to 665, in the Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston, the other dated either to 694 or 703, in
the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., published in Osvald
Sirén, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth
Century, vol. III, New York, 1925, pls 386A and B.
$ 50,000-70,000

158 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11744 A COLLECTING JOURNEY: THE JANE AND LEOPOLD SWERGOLD COLLECTION 159