Page 194 - September 23 to 24 Important Chinese Art Christie's NYC

PROPERTY FROM THE SPRINGFIELD MUSEUMS, SOLD TO
SUPPORT ART ACQUISITIONS AND COLLECTIONS CARE
908
TWO MASSIVE PARCEL-GILT BRONZE
FIGURES OF DEITIES
LATE MING DYNASTY, 16TH-17TH CENTURY
Both figures are powerfully cast with expressive
faces set in a grimace, and are shown standing
with feet apart and firmly planted on a separate
rockwork base. One figure is shown wearing a tall
scholar’s cap and a loose robe with long sleeves
that fall in heavy folds below the hands raised to
hold a tablet cast with a writhing dragon in pursuit
of a pearl. The other figure has his hair drawn up
under a knotted cloth and wears boots and armor
under robes that are secured at the waist with a
belt of jade plaques and a long cord tied in a bow
and then again in a quatrefoil knot. His hands are
raised to hold an implement, likely a tablet, now
missing. The head and neck of each figure are
richly gilded.
The larger 66æ in. (169.5 cm.) high (2)

$300,000-500,000
PROVENANCE:
George Walter Vincent Smith (1832-1923),
Springfield, Massachusetts, acquired prior to 1910.

Monumental in scale and powerfully cast with
expressive faces and beautifully rendered drapery,
this magnificent pair of bronze figure was clearly
part of an extremely important commission given
the time, skill and material cost involved in their
production. While their specific identities are
unknown, they would likely have served as part of
an ensemble of protective deities.
The current figures can be compared to three
gilt-bronze figures dating to the Ming dynasty of
related size and fineness of casting, in the Nitta
Collection, which were included in the exhibition,
The Crucible of Compassion and Wisdom,
National Palace Museum, 1987: pl. 120, a bearded
guardian dressed in full armor and standing on a
separate rockwork base; pl. 121, a seated guardian
with fierce expression; and pl. 122, a figure of
a standing official. Like the Springfield figure
wearing armor under his robes, all three of the
Nitta figures wear belts with jade plaques above
cords tied in a bow above a second knot below.
See, also, the related massive gilt-bronze figure of
a deity in military aspect dated late Ming dynasty,
also shown standing on a separate rockwork
base, sold at Christie’s New York, 21 September
2000, lot 203.

斯普菲博物館珍藏，拍賣收益將用於藏品購藏及維護
晚明 十六/十七世紀 局部鎏金銅仙人立像兩座
來源:
史喬沃先生（1832-1923），斯普林菲爾德，麻薩諸塞
州，入藏於1910年以前。

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