Page 92 - Christies September 13 to 14th Fine Chinese Works of Art New York

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE JAPANESE COLLECTION
1125
A RARE GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF AN APSARA
EASTERN WEI DYNASTY (AD 534-550)
The well-cast apsara is shown playing the sheng while kneeling on a lotus platform from which rise
scarves that curve upwards to fank the ends of a celestial scarf that is wrapped under the fgure’s arms
and rises on either side of the head where it is surmounted by a trefoil motif. There is a tiny hole at the
bottom of the central lotus petal, and a small, pierced attachment tab that projects from the back.
The fgure is covered overall with gilding, except for the concave reverse of the lotus platform.
4Ω in. (11.5 cm.) high, hardwood stand, Japanese wood box
$20,000-30,000

PROVENANCE
Osvald Sirén (1879-1966) Collection, Stockholm, Sweden.
Mayuyama Junkichi, Mayuyama Ryusendo, 1965.
Shirakawa Ichiro (1908-1994), and thence by descent within the family.
EXHIBITED
Kagawa Prefecture, Kagawa Prefectural Cultural Hall, Ancient Chinese Art - The Origin of Japanese Art,
9 - 24 November 1968.
Osaka, The Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, Art of the Six Dynasties, 10 October - 9 November 1975.
Tokyo, The Gotoh Museum, The Shape of Chinese Ancient Works - Yin to Tang Dynasty,
2 October - 8 November 1981.
Osaka, The Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, Chinese Buddhist Sculpture, 6 October - 11 November 1984.
Izumi, Kuboso Memorial Museum of Arts, Gilt Bronze Buddha in Six Dynasties, 1991.
Tokyo, The Museum Yamato Bunkakan, Chinese Gilt Bronze Statues of Buddhism,
2 October - 8 November 1992.
LITERATURE
Osvald Sirén, ‘Documents D’Art Chinois de la Collection’, Art Asiatica, 1925, no. 238.
Osvald Sirén, Histoire des arts anciens de la Chine, L’epoque Han les six dynasties, vol. II,
Paris and Brussels, 1929, no. 119.
Ko-Bijutsu 10, 1965, essay by Mr. Shirakawa, pp. 99-100.
Ancient Chinese Art - The Origin of Japanese Art, Kagawa, 1968, no. F7.
The Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, Art of the Six Dynasties, Osaka, 1975, p. 36, no. 3-166.
Mayuyama Seventy Years, vol. one, 1976, no. 114.
The Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, Chinese Buddhist Sculpture, Osaka, 1984, pp. 85-6, no. 166.
Kuboso Memorial Museum of Arts, Gilt Bronze Buddha in Six Dynasties, Izumi, 1991, p. 76, no. 182.
The Museum Yamato Bunkakan, Chinese Gilt Bronze Statues of Buddhism, Tokyo, 1992, p. 64, no. 32.
東魏 鎏金銅飛天像

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