Page 68 - Fine Chinese Art Bonhams London May 2018

THE PROPERTY OF A NOBLEMAN
男爵藏品
61
A VERY RARE GREY LIMESTONE FIGURE
OF AVALOKITESHVARA
Tang Dynasty
The dignified deity powerfully modelled with serene countenance
and downcast eyes, the hair neatly arranged into a chignon behind
a small figure of Amitabha Buddha seated on a lotus pedestal, the
poised figure clad in loose robes with drapery elegantly cascading in
folds, wearing beaded jewellery decorated with scrolling motifs and
suspending jewelled cords, backed by a circular halo surrounded
by Buddhist deities and flanked at the feet by a pair of confronted
Buddhist lions.
102.5cm (40 3/8in) high. (2).
£60,000 - 80,000
CNY540,000 - 710,000
唐 石灰岩觀音菩薩背光坐像

Provenance: Maria Luisa de Nieulant y Erro, Marquesa de Sotomayor
y Condesa de Alba Real (1882-1947) and her husband Alberto de
Ribed y Adriani, Casa Alba Real, Spain, prior to 1948, and thence by
descent

來源：
1948年前由西班牙女侯爵Maria Luisa de Nieulant y Erro （1882-1947）
，及其夫Alberto de Ribed y Adriani收藏，並由後人保存迄今

The present sculpture is remarkable for the sensuous carving and the rebirth in the Pure Land of Amithaba from at least the 1st-2nd
delicacy of detail. It would have almost certainly formed part of a century AD. Worshipping Avalokiteshvara would have enabled one to
larger Buddhist stele commissioned for installation in temples or visualise the blissful land of Amitabha, here suggested by the multiple
monastic compounds, courtyards or rock-cave shrines. These depictions of Buddhas surrounding the halo of the bodhisattva, and
type of objects were usually commissioned by families or groups finally attain enlightenment.
of individuals hoping to accumulate karmic merit for themselves or
their ancestors. According to Buddhist scriptures, such as the ‘Lotus The facial features of central figure in the present lot are comparable
Sutra’, compiled during the first century BC, accumulating merit by to those noted on a grey limestone head of Avalokiteshvara, Tang
means of constructing devotional images, temples and shrines, would dynasty, included in the collection of the Louvre Museum, Paris,
ensure one’s rebirth in the wondrous land inhabited by the Buddha. illustrated by O.Siren, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the
Avalokiteshvara, the central figure depicted in the present sculpture, is Fourteenth Century, London, 1970, pl.568. The powerful and muscular
recognisable by the small image of the Amitabha Buddha decorating lions closely compare with a large stone lion, Tang dynasty, formerly in
the headdress. The deity was highly revered as an embodiment of the the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which was sold at Christie’s
Compassion of the Buddha and incorporated in beliefs concerning New York, 17 March 2015, lot 16.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
66 | BONHAMS please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.