Page 86 - Christies September 13 to 14th Fine Chinese Works of Art New York

PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED EUROPEAN COLLECTOR
1124
AN IMPORTANT AND VERY RARE GREY LIMESTONE FIGURE OF AVALOKITESHVARA
EARLY TANG DYNASTY, 8TH CENTURY
The bodhisattva is shown standing in a tribhanga pose on top of a waisted lotus base, holding an elixir
bottle in the left hand and wearing a scalloped necklace and a dhoti bound and gathered at the waist with
beaded chains. A long scarf is draped over the lower arms and fower-head-decorated bands encircle the
upper arms. The face is carved with a sensuous mouth, and the hair is drawn up into a topknot decorated
with a foliate medallion centered by a fgure of Amitabha Buddha and falls in wavy tresses that trail along
the shoulders. There are slight traces of gilding and gesso.
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 283.
EXHIBITED
Houston, Texas, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, House of Art, 1954.
Notre Dame, Indiana, Notre Dame University, O’Shaughnessy Art Gallery, 1956.
Hartford, Connecticut, Wadsworth Atheneum, 4000 Years of Chinese Art: An Exhibition organized and lent
by C. T. Loo, 17 October - 30 November 1958.
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. 372A.
F. H. Taylor, House of Art, Houston, Texas, 1954, no. 74.
Notre Dame University, Notre Dame Alumnus, Notre Dame, Indiana, March - April 1956, vol. 34, no. 2, p. 7.
E. Turner, 4000 Years of Chinese Art: An Exhibition organized and lent by C. T. Loo, Hartford, Connecticut,
1958, no. 158.
J. V. Sewell, Chinese Art from the Collection of James W. and Marilynn Alsdorf, Chicago, 1970, no. s23.
Eskenazi, Ancient Chinese sculpture from the Alsdorf collection and others, London, 1990, no. 14.
Giuseppe Eskenazi with Hajni Elias, A Dealer’s Hand, The Chinese Art World Through the Eyes of
Giuseppe Eskenazi, London, 2012, p. 225, pl. 123.
盛唐 石灰岩雕觀音菩薩立像

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