Page 293 - Bonhams Cornette Saint Cyr, Property from the estate of Jean-Pierre Rousset (1936-2021)

This serene head represents the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara also Compare with the face on a related statue of a bodhisattva standing
known as Guanyin. The sublimely carved oval face is counterbalanced on a lotus pedestal, dated to 576, illustrated by O.Siren, Chinese
by a tall crown richly carved with palmettes and foliate motifs, centred Sculpture: From the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, vol.1, Bangkok,
by a figure of Amitabha Buddha. The political and social turmoil 1998, pl.230 (reprinted from the 1925 edition). See also similarly
that accompanied dynastic changes in the 6th century significantly arched brows and squarish face on a statue of a seated bodhisattva,
impacted Chinese Buddhist practice in several ways which are Northern Qi dynasty, illustrated in Compassion and Fascination,
reflected in Buddhist art of the period. In their search for refuge Beijing, 2003, p.42.
beyond the chaos of the material world, a variant form of Pure Land
Buddhism, in which devotion to Amitabha (or a bodhisattva such A related sandstone head of Guanyin, Northern Qi/Sui dynasty,
as Avalokiteshvara) allowed adherents to be reborn in Sukhavati was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 1 April 2019, lot 3055.
(the Western Paradise of the Buddha Amitabha), grew in popularity.
Consequently, images of bodhisattvas proliferated in the third quarter 北齊 約六世紀 石雕觀音首
of the 6th century, as demonstrated by the present lot.
來源：
巴黎Robert Rousset（1901-1981）舊藏，於1935年前入藏
巴黎Jean-Pierre Rousset（1936-2021）舊藏

240 THE ROUSSET COLLECTION | 291