Page 78 - Christies September 13 to 14th Fine Chinese Works of Art New York

PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED EUROPEAN COLLECTOR
1123
AN IMPORTANT AND VERY RARE GREY LIMESTONE FIGURE
OF MAHASTHAMAPRAPTA
EARLY TANG DYNASTY, 8TH CENTURY
The fgure is well carved in a tribangha pose on top of a waisted lotus pedestal, with a lotus stem,
originally held in the right hand, twining up the arm to the shoulder. The fgure wears a beaded necklace,
a scarf draped around the torso and over the shoulders, and a diaphanous dhoti that is gathered at the
waist and falls in deep U-shaped folds to just above the feet. The face is carved with a serene expression
and small sensuous mouth, and the hair is dressed in a high, looped topknot decorated in front with an
elixir bottle and on the sides with fowers and pendent ribbons.
26¡ in. (67 cm.) high
$1,500,000-2,500,000

PROVENANCE
Grenville L. Winthrop (1864-1943) Collection, New York, acquired prior to 1925.
Yamanaka & Co., Inc.; Parke Bernet Galleries, New York, 27 May 1944, lot 805 (part).
C. T. Loo & Co., New York.
Frank Caro, successor to C. T. Loo, New York, June 1961.
James W. and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago.
Eskenazi Ltd., London, 1990.
The Property of a Lady; Christie’s New York, 16 September 1998, lot 284.
EXHIBITED
Houston, Texas, Houston Museum of Fine Art, House of Art, 1954.
Chicago, The Arts Club of Chicago, Chinese Art from the Collection of James W. and Marilynn Alsdorf,
21 September - 13 November 1970.
London, Eskenazi, Ancient Chinese sculpture from the Alsdorf collection and others, 12 June - 6 July 1990.

LITERATURE
O. Sirén, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, London, 1925, vol. 3, pl. 372 B.
F. H. Taylor, House of Art, Houston, Texas, 1954, no. 74.
J. V. Sewell, Chinese Art from the Collection of James W. and Marilynn Alsdorf, Chicago, 1970, no. s22.
Eskenazi, Ancient Chinese sculpture from the Alsdorf collection and others, London, 1990, no. 15.
盛唐 石灰岩雕大勢至菩薩立像

76