Importante statuette de Bodhisattva en bronze Fin de la Dynastie Yuan/début de la dynastie Ming

assis en rajalilasana, le bras droit sur son genou relevé tenant une perle entre le pouce et l'index et la main gauche reposant sur une tablette posée sur le côté, le visage rond aux yeux baissés en méditation, le nez aquilin et les lèvres charnues, encadré par de longs lobes d'oreille percés ornés de boucles, le front ceint d'un fin diadème ruyi, les cheveux coiffés en arrière formant de longues mèches tombant le long des épaules recouvertes d'une étoffe plissée, le torse orné d'une parure de perles, les jambes couvertes d'un vêtement noué à la taille aux bordures incisées de motifs floraux, traces de laque rouge à la patine, socle en bois (2)

Formerly in a French private collection (by repute).
Acquired in Paris in the 1950s.

The figure's left foot was broken off and soldered back on in the past. There are additional rivets to further hold the foot in place, one of them lost. The tip of the flowing ribbon on the figure's left side is mising and on the figure's right side the end of the ribbon and a piece of the ribbon are missing. The tip of the longer braid of hair falling over the figure's left shoulder and arm is missing. The tip of the central ornament of the diadem is missing. There are minute traces of gilding in the recesses parts of the casting of the figure's body. The bronze surface shows remains of several layers of pigments/lacquer, the top layer a deep red colour which may have been later added. The figure is heavily cast, the bronze patinated to a beautiful darkish bown colour. It has beautiful proportions and the face a serene expression.
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Finely cast and delicately rendered, this figure illustrates the blending of the Chinese and Indo-Himalayan imagery that emerged in the latter part of the Yuan dynasty. Draped in robes that reveal his physique, his square face and long braids which are typical of Nepalese works, while the plump hands and feet and the proportions of the body, particularly the broad shoulders that taper down to a narrow waist and long legs, derive from Chinese traditions.

Seated in the pose of ‘royal ease’ and holding a mani, or wish-fulfilling pearl, representing the vibrant and luminous state of mind which is flawless, pure and perfect, this figure is likely to depict the Water-Moon Guanyin (Shuiye), a representation derived from Tang dynasty paintings. It is thought that these paintings, which no longer survive, served as prototypes for sculptors and such representations of Guanyin were particularly popular during the Song period, for a comprehensive discussion of this subject see Angela Falco Howard et. al, Chinese Sculpture, New Haven, 2006, p. 388. The moon is believed to be the controller of the water, circulating through the universe and sustaining all living creatures; moreover the moon in water is common in Buddhist scriptures and symbolises the transitory nature of the world. Although there is no scriptural basis for linking Guanyin with these metaphors, it is thought this imagery was adopted and adapted from sources outside Buddhism.

The reclining pose is thought to originate from an episode in the ‘Flower Garland’, or Avatamsuka Sutra, in which its protagonist, the young Sudhana in his search for true wisdom, seeks Avalokitesvara on his island residence of Mount Potalaka. The divine Compassionate One appears seated in ‘royal ease’ inside a grotto and debates with
Sudhana. The spread of the Avatamsaka Sutra in China from the 10^th century saw the concurrent development of this posture, compare Derek Gilman, ‘A New Image in Chinese Buddhist Sculpture of the Tenth to Thirteenth Century’, Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 47, 1982-83, pp 32-44.

Compare a related figure, in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, illustrated in Edmund Capon, Art Gallery of New South Wales: Highlights from the Collection, Sydney, 2008, pl. 169; a figure of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara in Water-Moon manifestation, but with a pointed chignon, in the Royal Ontario Museum, included in the exhibition The World of Khubilai Khan. Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, cat. no. 149, and another example in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, included in Hai-wai yi-chen, Taiwan, 1990, pl. 164. The textile borders, long torso and ovoid drapery folds on the legs are also comparable with a figure of a Bodhisattva, but seated cross-legged, offered at Christie’s Hong Kong, 2nd November 1999, lot 770.