Page 26 - Sotheby's Asian Art PARIS, December 10, 2019

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ANCIENNE COLLECTION ARISTOCRATIQUE BELGE This important pair of parcel-gilt bronze bodhisattvas may
originally have formed part of a larger group of figures,
IMPORTANTE ET TRÈS RARE PAIRE DE
STATUETTES DE BODHISATTVA EN BRONZE such as the Eight Great Bodhisattvas. They are among the
few surviving Buddhist figures cast in bronze made in the
PARTIELLEMENT DORÉ 14th century during the Yuan or very early Ming dynasty,
XIV SIÈCLE a short period of transition in style and iconography in
E
Chinese Buddhist sculpture, making the present pair of
l’un représentant Avalokiteshvara assis en figures exceptionally rare and important.
maharajalilasana, sa main gauche en avakasha mudra
et sa main droite en bhumisparsa mudra, le visage Both figures are stylistically related to Buddhist sculp-
arrondi et serein aux yeux baissés et illuminé d’un ture of the Song dynasty. A rare early example dated to
doux sourire esquissé de ses fines lèvres délicatement the Song dynasty includes a small gilt-bronze figure of a
ourlées, les oreilles aux longs lobes embellis de bijoux, seated bodhisattva, dated to the 12th/13th century of the
les cheveux coiffés d’un simple diadème décoré d’un Song Dynasty (AD 960 - 1279), in the collection of the
ornement surmonté d’une représentation d’Amitabha, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, EA1956.1376. The small figure
les cheveux retombant le long des épaules en de longues already bears the features that would become the hall-
mèches, vêtu d’une fine robe monastique finement marks of Yuan and early Ming Buddhist sculpture, namely
plissée et ornée de motifs floraux incisés en frise sur la a fuller oval face, a bare chest with elaborate beaded neck-
bordure, nouée à la taille, laissant apparaitre le torse nu lace, a thin shawl covering the upper back and enveloping
drapé dans un tissu croisé et prolongé en de longues the shoulders, and a voluminous dhoti covering the lower
écharpes enroulées autour des bras ; l’autre assis en part of the body from the waist to the ankles.
maharajalilasana, les mains en vitarka mudra, le bras The style of the two parcel-gilt bodhisattvas offered here
gauche reposant sur une sellette, le visage arrondi et represents an evolution from that of the Song-period
serein aux yeux baissés et illuminé d’un doux sourire sculpture mentioned above, and their salient stylistic
esquissé de ses fines lèvres délicatement ourlées, les features mark them as a generation later than that figure,
oreilles aux longs lobes embellis de bijoux, les cheveux placing them in the 14th century of the Yuan or early Ming
coiffés d’un simple diadème orné en son centre d’un dynasties. Among the few gilt-bronze figures of this period
ornement fleuronné, les cheveux retombant le long they are closest stylistically to a large gilt-bronze figure
des épaules en de longues mèches, vêtu d’une fine of Avalokiteshvara, sold in Poly, Beijing, 19th June 2018,
robe monastique finement plissée et ornée de motifs lot 5172, and illustrated in Meinrad Maria Grewenig and
floraux incisés en frise sur la bordure, nouée à la taille et Eberhard Rist, Buddha. 2000 years of Buddhist Art. 232
couvrant les épaules, laissant apparaitre le torse nu orné Masterpieces, Voelklingen, Edition Voelklinger Huette, 2016,
d’un large collier ; cat. no. 59. Like this important figure of a bodhisattva,
the present pair of bodhisattvas show the same stylistic
avec deux socles en bois laqué or de forme rectangulaire traits. Their slim, elongated torsi are bare, one of them
à ressaut central orné du joyau enflammé de Bouddha, is wearing an elaborate bejewelled necklace suspending
flanqué de deux lions et de piliers en applique, de deux several hanging chains held together by a central orna-
éléphants sur la largeur, entourés d’une double frise de ment. A thin shawl is draped across their shoulders and on
cartouches polylobés et de pétales stylisés (4)
figures 40 cm, 15¾ in. one figure is tied across the bare torso. Both figures wear
bases 19 x 36 x 25,7 cm, 7½ by 14⅛ by 10⅛ in. high-waisted skirts covering the lower part of their torsi
are tied just below the ribcage. They share the simple cir-
An important and very rare pair of parcel-gilt bronze figures of clet-shaped diadem around the head centered on a single
Bodhisattva, 14th century; together with a pair of lacquer-gilt jewel, a feature that can also be found on a large bronze
thrones, Qing Dynasty, 18th century head of a bodhisattva, offered in Sotheby’s New York, 21st
September 2007, lot 22.
500 000-700 000 €
4 360 000-6 110 000 HK$ 560 000-780 000 US$ Both figures are seated with their right leg pulled up, a pos-
ture rarely found in Chinese Buddhist sculpture, and exem-
十四世紀 鎏金銅菩蕯坐像一對 連 plified in a gilt-bronze figure of Sakyamuni, in the Cleveland
Museum of Art Collection, and a larger dry lacquer figure
清十八世紀 漆金木雕須彌座一對 of Sakyamuni, from the University Museum, University of
Pennsylvania, both published in Shermann Lee, Chinese
Art under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368),
Cleveland, 1968, cat. nos. 18 and 19. Another figure made
in Qingbai Porcelain and representing the Water Moon
Guanyin, dated by inscription to 1298 or 1299 of the Yuan
dynasty, from the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum
of Art, Kansas City, is similarly seated resting the right arm
on the right leg drawn against the body, see ibid., cat. no. 26.

24 ARTS D’ASIE