Page 37 - CHRISTIE'S Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art 09/14 - 15 / 17

PROPERTY FROM THE
ARTHUR M. SACKLER FOUNDATION

916

A MARBLE FIGURE OF A BODHISATTVA
NORTHERN QI-SUI DYNASTY,
6TH CENTURY

The fgure is shown standing and wearing a shawl
draped over the arms, and a long, looped necklace
gathered at the waist by a disk above the belt that
secures an outer robe worn over an under-robe
that falls in graceful, parallel folds to the tops of
the shoes.

36 in. (91.4 cm.) high, stand

$40,000-60,000

PROVENANCE

C. Edward Wells Collection, Bridgewater,
Connecticut, 9 December 1963.
Arthur M. Sackler Collections.
The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation.

The rigid, frontal pose of this fgure is typical of
Northern Qi and Sui dynasty stone sculptures
of bodhisattvas. See, for example, a sandstone
fgure of a standing bodhisattva at The Nelson-
Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, illustrated
in Zhongguo liu shi hai wai fo jiao zao xiang zong
he tu mu (Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue of
Chinese Buddhist Statues in Overseas Collections),
vol. 3, Beijing, 2005, no. 588. The depiction of the
drapery over the lower body, with an unusually
long portion of the dhoti folded over and rippling
folds beneath, is rare but can be found on a few
known examples, including a marble fgure of
a bodhisattva at the Victoria & Albert Museum,
London, illustrated in Chinese Art in Overseas
Collections: Buddhist Sculpture (II), Taipei, 1990,
no. 63. The rectangular belt pendant below the
circular disc is also an unusual feature, but a
comparable example can be found on a Northern
Zhou gilt-bronze fgure of Guanyin illustrated by
Jin Shen in Illustrated Chinese Buddha Images
Through the Ages, Beijing, 1995, p. 301, no. 221.
The presence of shoes on the present fgure is
also unusual, as they are more often seen on
images of guardian or warrior fgures.

北齊/隋 石雕菩薩立像

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