Page 288 - Bonhams Cornette Saint Cyr, Property from the estate of Jean-Pierre Rousset (1936-2021)

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RARE STATUETTE DE BODHISTTAVA EN PIERRE SCULPTÉE
Dynastie des Zhou du Nord/dynastie Sui (557-581/589-618)
AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE STONE FIGURE OF A BODHISATTVA
Northern Zhou/Sui Dynasty (557-581 AD/589-618 AD)
The deity, probably representing Avalokiteshvara, standing with its
body naturalistically slightly swayed to the front and right, holding
a vase in its left hand containing the nectar of Immortality, wearing
flowing robes naturalistically draped in folds around its shoulders
and arms, folded over its waist and reaching its bare feet, adorned
with beaded bejewelled and tasselled necklaces with a central lotus
pendant, the right arm raised, the serene face gazing forward with
well detailed features flanked by pendulous ears with adorned with
earrings, below the high beaded and bejewelled tiara with ribbons set
around the coiffure, the back displaying the robe with its folds and
overlapping pleats, tied below the neck and folded over the waist, with
a bracket section on the back of the head, with red, green and black
pigments and gilding, supported on an inverted circular base, stand.
54.3cm (21 1/2in) high. (2).
€50,000 - 80,000

Provenance:
Robert Rousset, Paris (1901-1981), according to a family note,
acquired from Tchou Teh Hoo, Beijing, 10 January 1925
Jean-Pierre Rousset, Paris (1936-2021)

Characterised by regal countenance and adornment, the present figure The bodhisattva most likely represents Avalokiteshvara, known as
bridges the aesthetic style of the Northern Zhou and Sui dynasties. Guanyin in China. Characteristically, the deity carries in her left hand a
The Sui dynasty utilised the patronism of Buddhism to unify China in vase, a ‘pure water bottle’, one of the eight symbols of good fortune.
589, with craftsmen merging the artistic achievements of the preceding The vase was believed to contain pure water capable of relieving
quarter century of the Northern Qi and Northern Zhou styles. suffering. The right hand probably once held a willow branch used to
sprinkle the divine water.
See a stone figure of Guanyin, Northern Zhou dynasty (550-581), with
similar proportions of large head atop narrow shoulders, illustrated by Compare with a related stone figure of Guanyin similarly holding a
O.Siren, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, bottle vase and draped with long necklace, Sui dynasty, and another
vol.I, Bangkok, 1998, pl.266A (reprinted from the Ernest Benn 1925 related stone figure of Guanyin, Sui dynasty, illustrated by O.Siren,
edition). Sculptures from this period are rare and the closest example ibid., pls.311 and 316. See also two limestone figures of a bodhisattva,
to the present lot may be a pair of standing bodhisattvas, Northern Sui dynasty, from the Avery Brundage collection, in the Asian Art
Zhou dynasty, discovered in 1992 in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, illustrated Museum San Francisco (acc.nos.B60S37 and B60S423). Compare
in China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 AD, New York, 2004, also two stone figures of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin), in the
no.170. The present exceptional figure with its opulent decoration and Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC, the first dated by inscription to
rich jewels was thus clearly influenced by the Northern Zhou style. 592 AD, (acc.no.FSC-S-52), and the second to the Sui dynasty (acc.
no.S2012.9.4531).

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