Page 18 - Bonhams NYC Chinese works of Art March 2019

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A RARE AND LARGE GILT-LACQUERED BRONZE FIGURE OF
MAHASTHAMAPRAPTA
Ming dynasty
Heavily cast in great detail, portrayed seated in dhyanasana, the left The kundika in the headdress identifies the figure as the
hand in vitakamudra and the right in dhyanamudra, the palms of both bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta. In Chinese Pure Land Buddhism,
hands and the soles of the feet incised with the ‘wheel of the Buddhist Mahathamaprapta is often depicted with Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin) on
law’, dressed in loose robes with elaborate lotus scroll borders, open either side of Amitabha Buddha. The bodhisattva’s name means the
at the chest to reveal a necklace suspending a floral pendant and arrival of great strength, and while Avalokiteshvara is the personification
multiple beaded chains, the full face with a serene expression and of Amitabha’s compassion, Mahasthamaprapta represents the power
downcast eyes framed by a foliate tiara centered with a kundika and of Amitabha’s wisdom.
elaborate earrings, the hair dressed in a curled topknot surmounted by
a jewel and tied tresses falling over the shoulders. Figures of this size are rare. For examples of two similar but smaller
23in (58.5cm) high bronze bodhisattva figures, see Denise Patry Leidy, Wisdom
Embodied: Chinese Buddhist and Daoist Sculpture in The Metropolitan
$20,000 - 30,000 Museum of Art,, 2010, p.183, nos. A56 and A57.
明 銅漆金大勢至菩薩坐像

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