A RARE LIMESTONE 'LONGMEN' RELIEF FRAGMENT OF A SEATED BODHISATTVA NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY

the grey stone with traces of a white layer, deftly carved with a youthful bodhisattva seated with legs crossed at the ankles, head slightly tilted to his left, the left hand raised in abhayamudra and the right hand resting on his knee while grasping the hem of the robe cascading over his legs in pleated folds, parted at the ankles to reveal the bare feet symmetrically pointed down at an angle, the slender elongated torso with tapered waist left bare save for a low-relief torque and a thin shawl draped across the shoulders with ends intersecting at the waist, the benevolent face detailed with bow-shaped eyes below arched brows issuing from the curve of the broad nose, all above well-defined lips drawn in a beatific smile, further framed by pendulous earlobes and a tall flaring crown, wood stand

Acquired between the 1950s and 60s.

This is a wall relief fragment truncated at the rear and expected fragmentary condition as visible on the photo. The figure has been broken and reglued in two places, horizontally across the belly and probably diagonally from the left side of his neck to his right waist (old restorations). There are traces of an old glue under the right arm and above the right hand which may indicate that the forearm section was still extent at some stage and now missing or that an old substitute replacement has now been removed. There is a 6 x 3 cm section of the pleated robe on the lower left that has flaked off as well and been reglued. The figure is otherwise in condition consistent with age with no apparent further recent damages or breaks. The old wood stand is in good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The present figure of a bodhisattva is carved in the distinctive style characteristic of the Longmen cave temples located south of Luoyang in Henan province. He has a face that conveys a focused, yet gentle and kind expression, suggesting contemplation and reflection and, overall, radiates a sense of peace and calmness. The body is also slender and elegant, fashioned to convey a sense of feminine fluidity and grace. The compact size of the figure suggests that he was possibly carved between larger figures and placed in one of the many niches that were made around the walls of the caves. A similar small example, in the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, is illustrated in the Museum’s publication A Handbook of the Chinese Collections, Palm Beach, 1972, pl. 103.

Comparable bodhisattvas from the Longmen cave temples, seated in a similar pose with legs crossed at the ankles, may be found in a number of museums and private collections. For example, see two illustrated in Osvald Sirén, Chinese Sculptures in the von der Heydt Collection, Zurich, 1959, pls. 11-2, in the Museum Rietberg, Zurich; another included in the exhibition Ancient Chinese Sculpture, Eskenazi, London, 1978, cat. no. 8; one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, published in Alan Priest, Chinese Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1944, pl. XXII; and a further cross-legged figure but in the ‘pensive’ pose, currently in the Longmen Museum, included in the museum’s catalogue Longmen Bowuguan [Longmen Museum], Zhengzhou, 2005, cat. no. 5.

Another Longmen limestone bodhisattva, now in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, is illustrated in Rene-Yvon Lefebvre d’Argence (ed.), Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage Collection, Tokyo, 1974, pl. 35, together with two further examples pls. 37 and 38, the former in the ‘pensive’ pose. Compare two bodhisattva figures depicted in situ at Longmen published in Zhongguo meishu quanji [The complete collection of Chinese art], vol. 11, Shanghai, 1988, pls. 52-3; and another, in the collection of the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts published in Longmen liusan diaoxiang ji [The lost statues of Longmen caves], Shanghai, 1993, pl. 9.