Page 98 - September 20 2021 Chinese Works of Art Bonhams NYC

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF
JAMES AND MARILYNN ALSDORF
182
A RARE PAINTED LIMESTONE HEAD OF A BODHISATTVA Their aura of sophistication and superior quality of execution might
Northern Zhou/Sui dynasty, Late 6th century CE be explained by its location close to the Northern Qi royal capital. The
The squared face showing crisp brows, elongated eyes with heavy lids, Northern Qi rulers were ardent patrons of Buddhism, known to have
a long triangular nose with wide nostrils and a subtle smile issuing from commissioned some of the northern cave temples at Xiangtangshan
thick lips, all below a high crown fronted by an oval jewel-centered as well as filling temples throughout the kingdom with consummately
plaque with raised scroll borders set between rosettes issuing beaded carved Buddhist images.
tassels and terminating in a smaller jewel plaque with raised scroll
borders partly visible above each pendulous ear; the finished surfaces In contrast, the Alsdorf bodhisattva shows a head of blocky shape
showing traces of gilding, red and ochre pigments, the back and top emphasized by its wide triangular nose and a wide, square jaw. The
of the head roughly finished. elongated eyes gazing directly forward and the faint smile on the
13 3/8in (33.9cm) high fleshy lips also add to the certain naïve quality of its conception. The
facial features and the crown are also carved in a more summary
$20,000 - 30,000 manner, accenting its difference from the Xiangtangshang crowned
heads. Although missing its body, the Alsdorf head shares the thick
北周/隋 六世紀晚期 石灰石菩薩頭像 facial features and blocky head characteristic of complete sculptures
found within the purview of the Northern Zhou kingdom. Two such
Provenance: examples are the two standing stone figures of the Sakyamuni Buddha
The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection preserved at the Xi’an Museum when Osvald Siren published them in
1925 (see Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century
來源： [London, E. Benn, 1925], vol. 1, p. 72, and vol. 3, plate 270a and
阿爾斯多夫伉儷珍藏 b, heights given as about 6 and five feet). Their faces even display a
subtle smile visible of the Alsdorf head.
Late sixth century China was marked by some of the shortest dynastic
reigns in its history: the Northern Qi (550-577) in the northeast, The third figure of interest is a Northern Zhou seated Maitreya
with its capital at Ye (present day Linzhang) in southern Hebei; the bodhisattva of impressive size (about 2 meters tall) in the Beilin
Northern Zhou (557-81) in the northwest, that defeated the Northern Museum, Xi’an, carved from the yellow limestone often encountered
Qi in 577, its capital located at Chang’an (present day Xi’an), Shaanxi in Shaanxi sculpture (see Angela Falco Howard [et al.], Chinese
Province; and the ensuing Sui dynasty (581-618), also with its capital Sculpture [Yale University Press, 2006], p. 280 and p. 287, fig.3.91).
at Chang’an, that unified China again after centuries of disunity. The Although showing the ravages of age, the figure shows a high level
differing trends in Buddhist sculpture developed within these kingdoms of craftsmanship. The square head leaning slightly forward from its
all left some mark on the Alsdorf bodhisattva head. compact, thickset body is sensitively rendered with a suggestion
of a smile on the otherwise pensive visage. The tall curving crown
The roughly finished surfaces on the top and back, as well as its differs in shape from that of the Alsdorf head and shows a higher level
large overall dimensions, suggest that the Alsdorf head once topped workmanship in the execution of its intricate raised relief, The crown on
a standing or seated bodhisattva of impressive size, carved in high the Maitreya bodhisattva instead conforms to a crown of similar shape
relief as part of a Buddhist assembly, on a cave temple wall or a but higher raised relief resting on the head of a massively sized bust of
hillside. The sculpture’s most distinctive feature is the tall crown with a bodhisattva (height 36 5/8in [93cm]) excavated in 1986 at Liquansi,
jeweled plaques and tasseled rosettes carved in detail and highlighted Xi’an (see James C. Y. Watt [et al.], China: Dawn of a Golden Age,
with polychrome pigments. A very similar crown appears on three 200-750 AD [Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Press, 2004],
stone bodhisattvas thought to have been carved during the last cat. no. 171, p. 270). The intricate and carefully chiseled high relief
years of Northern Qi rule, but removed in the early 20th century from on the crown continues across the remaining surfaces of the Liquansi
one the seven southern caves in the Buddhist shrine complex at bust, again proof of the highest quality of craftsmanship capable in the
Xiangtangshan, Hebei Province, near the capital city Ye. The first is a capital of a kingdom. In fact, when complete, the Liquansi deity might
free-standing head of large size (15in [38.1cm] high) in the Metropolitan have stood 8 feet tall, suggesting that it could have been carved in the
Museum of Art, the body no longer preserved (see Denise Patry opening years of the Sui dynasty when colossal figures of this type
Leidy and Donna Strahan,Wisdom Embodied: Chinese Buddhist and were produced.
Daoist Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art [Yale University
Press, 2011], cat. no. 10c, p. 81). The second, a life-size free standing In the end, the Alsdorf bodhisattva head remains an enigma –a
figure (67in [170.2cm] high) in the Richmond, Virginia Museum of blockish head with a naïve smile of Northern Zhou type wearing a
Fine Arts, may have come from Cave 1 of the southern group (see crown of sophisticated Northern Qi type. Professor Howard notes
Katherine R. Tsiang, Echoes of the Past: the Buddhist cave temples that many caves were opened and independent images carved within
at Xiangtangshan [University of Chicago Press, c.2010, cat. no. 19, that vast expanse of the Northern Zhou kingdom that stretched as
pp. 202-203).The third, a free-standing head of the bodhisattva far as Ningxia, Gansu and Sichuan (see Howard [et al.], Chinese
Mahasthamaprapta (14 3/16in [36cm] high), in the Freer Gallery of Sculpture, p. 279.) The workmanship on the Alsdorf head may not
Art, the body no longer preserved, possibly from Caves 4-6 (see also reflect a commission by wealthiest of patrons the royal capital of Xi’an.
Tsiang [et al.],Echoes of the Past, cat. no. 30, pp. 224-225). However, given the over life size scale of the Alsdorf head, a complete
seated figure of comparable size for it might have been at least four
The three bodhisattva heads associated with the Xiangtangshan site feet in height while, a complete standing figure in the range of six feet
also share an elongated ovoid shape, accentuated by a narrow nose or taller. As such the complete sculpture must have been a monument
separating the graceful arching brows and downcast eyes from the full, of impressive size and considerable expense, commissioned
voluptuous lips. These details are carefully carved with a fine surface somewhere away from the capital by single donor or a community of
finish that extends onto the sloping shoulders and columnar body of faithful.
the complete standing bodhisattva from the Virginia Museum of Art.

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