Page 105 - Bonhams September 10 2018 New York Chinese Works of Art

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AN INSCRIBED BRONZE FIGURE OF SAMANTABHADRA
17th century
Cast with an expression of deep meditation, crowned by an elaborate Provenance
tiara with beaded jewelry covering the body, flanked by lotus E & J Frankel, New York, 1980
blossoms supporting sutra scrolls, the hands held in vitarkamudra, Bonhams, San Francisco, 15 March 2011, lot 2227
seated in lalitasana on a recumbent elephant supported on a
rectangular base with raised lotus petals, the back inscribed with a The inscription on the back may be translated as ‘devotee Yan Weizi
dedication from Yan Weizi and his wife. and his wife nee Hu offer this image with devotion’.
13in (33cm) high
A person by the name of Yan Weizhi is listed as one of the donors
$6,000 - 8,000 on a stele in the Longen Baosha Temple in Beijing, which was
inscribed in the second year of the Shunzhi reign (1645) when the
十七世紀 銅普賢菩薩騎象像 temple underwent a renovation. The Yuhuang Temple in Jincheng in
Shanxi province also lists an official with this name as a donor to the
temple’s renovations in the fifth year of the Kangxi reign (1666). It is
銘文 possible that this is the same person as the one who commissioned
信弟子嚴維梓同胡氏虔供 the present lot. If that is the case, such figures with characteristically
large heads, slender bodies and small animal mounts can be more
precisely dated to the 17th century.

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