A limestone figure of a Bodhisattva, Northern Qi dynasty | 北齊 石灰岩雕菩薩立像

European Private Collection.

Christie's London, 11th November 2003, lot 12.

歐洲私人收藏

倫敦佳士得2003年11月11日，編號12

The present Bodhisattva is notable for its finely carved jewellery and court-style dress. It belongs to the sculptures from the Northern Qi period (550-577), known for the simple treatment of the jewelled garland that crosses under a beaded disc over the accompanying scarves that cross, rise again, and wind around the wrists. The double circles at the shoulders, partially obscured in this example by the pendant folds of the headdress, are also a prominent feature peculiar to this group of sculptures.

Compare a related example but with the head damaged, attributed to Northern Qi period, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue Zhongguo gudai shidiao yishu/Chinese Buddhist Sculpture from the Wei Through the Tang Dynasties, National Museum of History, Taipei, 1983, cat. no. 137. See also a related example, unearthed from the Longxing temple site at Qingzhou in Shandong province, attributed to Northern Qi, illustrated in Zhao Puchu, Qingzhou Longxingsi fojiao zaoxiang yishu/Buddhist Imagery Art at Longxing Temple of Qingzhou, Ji’nan, 1999, pl. 187; one, with a similar smilling face but with a simpler treatment of the jewelled garland, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28th April 1996, lot 563, and a Bodhisattva with similar jewelled chains, attributed to Sui dynasty, illustrated in Chinese Sculptures in the von der Heydt Collection, Zurich, 1959, pl. 92.