Page 50 - March 23, 2022 Sotheby's NYC Fine Chinese Works of Art

252
PROPERTY FROM A NEW YORK PRIVATE COLLECTION Two slightly larger Shakyamuni Buddhas signed by Chen
A RARE INSCRIBED GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF have also appeared at auction. See one sold in our London
YUANSHI TAIZUN, BY CHEN YANQING rooms, 8th November 2017, lot 67, and another, from the
collection of Jas R. Herbert Boone, sold in these rooms,
MING DYNASTY, EARLY 15TH CENTURY 18th-19th April 1989, lot 150A.
the reverse with a six-character inscription reading Qiantang The present lot depicts Yuanshi Tianzun (Celestial Worthy
Chen Yanqing zao, Perspex stand (2) of Primordial Beginning) dressed in rich, flowing robes
Height 8⅜ in., 21.2 cm with eyes downcast and his proper left hand raised in front
of his chest. An imitation of the supreme Buddhas of the
PROVENANCE Mahayana tradition, which was introduced to China through
Private Collection, acquired prior to 1997, and thence by trade routes in Central Asia, Yuanshi Tianzun quickly
descent. became the most important of all Daoist deities after his
initial appearance in the early fifth century (see Stephen
This piece is notable on account of its inscription, which Little, op. cit., p. 232). Compare three similar Ming dynasty
identifies its maker as Chen Yanqing, a sculptor who appears
to have been active in Hangzhou from the late Yuan to the depictions of Yuanshi Tianzun, one sold at Bonhams London,
12th November 2015, lot 93; another sold in our London
early 15th century. Surviving examples of gilt-bronzes signed rooms, 16th May 2012, lot 229 (part lot); and the third in
by Chen are rare, although a few are in notable museum the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis (accession no.
collections. See a gilt-bronze figure of Laozi, with the same
six-character inscription, in the Royal Ontario Museum, 2003.66).
Toronto (accession no. 991.62.1). Compare also two similar
gilt-bronzes with dated inscriptions, one depicting Zhenwu, $ 15,000-20,000
from the collection of Robert Sonnenschein II, now in the Art
Institute of Chicago (accession no. 1950.1054), illustrated in 明十五世紀初
Stephen Little, Taoism and the Arts of China, Berkeley, 2000,
pl. 103, dated to 1439; and the other depicting Laozi and 陳彥清造銅鎏金元始天尊坐像
dated to 1438, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession 《錢塘陳彥清造》款
no. 1997.139), illustrated in Denise Patry Leidy and Donna
Strahan, Wisdom Embodied. Chinese Buddhist and Daoist 來源
Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010,
pl. 38 (fig. 1). 私人收藏，得於1997年之前，此後家族傳承

Fig. 1 An inscribed gilt-bronze figure of Laozi, Dated
wuwu year, corresponding to 1438, by Chen Yanqing. ©
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
圖一 銅鎏金老子坐像 戊午年（1438年）陳彥清製 ©大都
會藝術博物館，紐約
96 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N10917