Page 91 - Sotheby's Junkunc Collection March 2019

ne of the most admired and respected of animals at the Tang court, the lion was revered
for its strength, spiritual essence and religious symbolism. Representative of the
Oexoticism of the western regions of India and Central Asia, from where they originated,
lions were among the most prized tributary items presented at the Tang capital of Chang’an.

The lion also evoked images of India and of Buddhism; its roar a metaphor for the Buddha propagating
the Dharma. The image of Manjushri is frequently presented in Tang art as mounted on a lion.
Fundamentally, however, the lion was revered at the Tang court for the powerful protective force it
commanded, its role as a guardian figure and emblem of power.

Lion figures of this type were likely part of an elaborate altar group, where they would have appeared
together with other guardian figures and attendants in front of the Buddha or a bodhisattva. Compare
such a group with two lion figures, in the Avery Brundage Collection, published in René-Yvon Lefebvre
d’Argencé and Diana Turner, ed., Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture, Tokyo, 1974, pl. 92.

Compare a related gilt-bronze lion of a smaller size, cast with a very similar furcated upright tail, in the
National Palace Museum, Taipei, acc. no. 000360-N000000000. For auction examples, see a lion cast
seated on a rockwork base, sold in our London rooms, 27th November 1973, lot 27; one on a circular ring
base, sold in our London rooms, 26th March 1963, lot 5; a third sold in these rooms, 6th November 1981,
lot 42; one without a base, but with a similarly modeled head, sold in these rooms, 23rd October 1976, lot
107; and another sold at Christie’s New York, 30th November 1983, lot 320.

獅子自古被認為是一種威猛莊嚴的神獸，在宗教藝術 參考一相類銅鎏金護法狮例，尺寸略小，同作立
中有強烈的象徵意義，如獅吼的如雷之音隱喻着佛陀 尾，尾分三叉，藏台北国立故宫博物院，館藏编号
對佛法的傳播。獅子作為印度西部及中亞異域風情的 000360-N000000000。另可參考相關拍賣作
代表，一直是外邦進獻唐都長安最為珍貴的御貢之 例：見一銅鎏金獅例，石形底座，售於倫敦蘇富比
物。唐代宮廷尊奉獅子為守護神，既保泰平又彰王 1973年11月27日，編號27；亦見一例，圓形底座，
權 。 售於倫敦蘇富比1963年3月26日，編號5；另見一例
售紐約蘇富比1981年11月6日，編號42；再見一例，
本品銅鎏金護法狮應原為佛臺的一部分，與護法或 無底座，獅首刻畫風格相近，售紐約蘇富比1976
天王以及隨侍奉於主佛或菩薩之前。可參考一銅鎏金 年10月23日，編號107。另有一例售於紐約佳士得
佛臺例，佛前見兩護法獅，錄 René-Yvon Lefebvre 1983年11月30日，編號320。
d’Argencé 及 Diana Turner 編，《Chinese, Korean
and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage
Collection》，東京，1974年，圖板92。

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