Page 124 - Bonhams Cornette Saint Cyr, Property from the estate of Jean-Pierre Rousset (1936-2021)

The present sculpture emerged when Buddhism flourished amidst Museum, London, illustrated in Guanyin: A Masterpiece Revealed,
an unstable period of chaos and war under the Jurchen Jin dynasty London, 1985, p.72, the colours used to decorate the wood statues
(1115-1234). What the Jurchens - a nomadic steppe people - were obtained from only three pigments: azurite, vermillion and copper
accomplished in less than fifteen years, between 1114 and 1127, green. Different shades and tones were obtained using different
was unparalleled. They defeated in war the two largest and most coats as base layers rather than by mixing. The only mixture was that
powerful nations in all of East Asia, the Khitans and the Chinese. The obtained with vermillion and kaolin to give a flesh pink and light red
former they entirely absorbed except for the small remnant that fled tones.
west to become the Kara Khitai. The latter gave up the northern third
of its territory, the China of revered antiquity, down to the Huai River Carved wood Buddhist figures from the Jin dynasty, of which the
boundary. China would not be reunited for another 150 years, and present lot is a remarkable example, reveal the deep level of influence
then under the Mongols, another conqueror from beyond the northern from the artistic style of the Indian Gupta empire (320-647), which itself
frontiers. But while the Jurchens burst into history, conquering faster was imbued with resonances of the Greek Hellenistic tradition. Not
than they could make plans for, their new Jin dynasty faced many only the form, but also the graceful folds of the robes, are distinctly
problems of state building and governing. Hellenistic in their adherence to the contours of a realistically conceived
body as they cascade down. The treatment of the body, particularly
The Jin social order was highly volatile and rapidly changing, and the exposed chest do not stem from Han Chinese traditions, where
remained so throughout Jin rule. The wild Jurchens originally had little of the naked body was ever depicted, but pay homage to the
no system of ancient dignitaries and established traditions of state external influences that crossed the Silk Road to China before and
government of the kind which lent stability to the previous Liao dynasty during the Tang dynasty. The carvers during the Jin dynasty were not
they had just conquered. The Jurchens had as yet, no script until 1120 only inspired by this tradition, but indeed further developed it in their
and no history as a national confederation, and there was considerable own unique style, as demonstrated by areas such as the face, where it
difficulty in keeping the Jurchen tribal units from fighting among is plumper and more fleshier.
themselves while facing difficulties in ruling a multi-ethnic empire.
Other large scale wood sculptures, mostly of Guanyin, from the Jin
Against this backdrop, Buddhism flourished in the Jin dynasty. Steppe dynasty are known and are mostly preserved in important museum
people such as the Jurchen, were highly conscious of the fact that collections. Of the famous life size wood sculptures of bodhisattvas
Buddhism was not a native Chinese religion. Especially in these preserved in museum collections, one of the finest is the large Song/
centuries of the Neo-Confucian revival in Song China, nominally at Jin dynasty wood figure of Avalokiteshvara, illustrated in Masterworks
least Buddhism was somewhat denigrated there, since it lacked the of Asian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, 1998, p.56. It
kind of official support and veneration that the Inner Asian peoples shares several distinct stylistic features with the Rousset bodhisattva,
lavished on the Indian religion. A plethora of wooden Buddhist especially the treatment of the face, softly carved with fleshy modelling,
sculptures were created particularly for the centres of religious activity skilful rendering of naturalistic details including the creases at the
in Taiyuan and Mount Wutai. mouth, the slightly plump cheeks, and the prominent brow. Compare
also the treatment of the face, robes and exposed body on a
The support for Buddhism in the Jin dynasty is evident from the monumental polychrome wood figure in the Nelson Atkins Museum of
numbers of surviving sutras carved on stone tablets, and by the Art, Kansas, illustrated by R.E.Fisher, Buddhist Art and Architecture,
ambitious production of a new official printed edition of the Buddhist London, 1993, pl.106.
canon, completed in Shanxi in 1192; see Tao-chung Yao, ‘Buddhism
and Taoism under the Chin’, in H.C.Tillman and S.H.West, China under See also similar stylistic elements on the face and torso of the famous
Jurchen Rule: Essays on Chin Intellectual and Cultural History, New pair of large wood figures of bodhisattvas in the Royal Ontario
York, 1995, p.174. Jurchen support for Buddhism is also evident from Museum, Toronto. Reportedly found in Linfen, Shanxi Province, before
the sheer quality and stature of the surviving sculptures of the period. they entered the George Crofts collection, one of them is notable for
Such large wooden statues, originally decorated with colourfully the dedicatory inscription on the inside dating it to 1195; see D.P.Leidy
painted surfaces, were created for Buddhist temples in north China. and D.Strahan, Wisdom Embodied: Chinese Buddhist and Daoist
Many temples in northern China were as extensive as palaces, and Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, p.19,
contained a series of courtyards with magnificent buildings devoted to fig.20.
worship, teaching and monks’ living quarters. The Jurchen rulers of the
Jin dynasty built on this tradition, gradually adopting Buddhism as the Compare also with the following related large wood figures; a very
state religion in place of shamanism, and establishing a rich legacy of similar rare and important polychrome wood figure of Guanyin, Jin
temples, tombs and artefacts. dynasty, which was sold at Christie’s Paris, 9 June 2021, lot 17; a rare
and important large polychrome wood figure of Shakyamuni Buddha,
The deeply carved drapery and the heavy ornamentation on figures Jin dynasty, which was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 October 2019,
of this size, coupled with the preserved pigments, hint at the original lot 3629; and a rare and important wood figure of Guanyin, circa 13th
sumptuousness and overwhelming visual effect that awaited temple century, which was sold at Christie’s Paris, 19 December 2012, lot
visitors. They would have encountered this image in an elaborate 177, and later sold by Eskenazi Ltd., London to the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
stage set with painted murals covering the walls, along with many
other sculptures of deities and luohan, all brightly coloured and
gilded. According to studies by J.Larson and R.Kerr on a related
wood sculpture of Guanyin, 13th century, in the Victoria and Albert

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