Lot 547
  • 547

A RARE LAPIS LAZULI FIGURE OF A BUDDHAQING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD |

Estimate
80,000 - 120,000 USD
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Description

  • Height overall 7 1/8  in., 18.2 cm
carved seated in dhyanasana with the hands in dhyana mudra, supporting a four-legged globular censer and cover, wearing draped robes and a dhoti incised at the hems with lotus and chevron borders, heightened with gilding, a necklace with a lotus pendant carved to the bare chest, all supported on a green jade double lotus base (2)

Provenance

Yamanaka & Co., New York.
American Art Association, 26th-27th January 1917, lot 75.
Collection of William Boyce Thompson (1869-1930), and thence by descent.

Condition

The carving is in overall good condition with only small losses to the handles of the censer and expected surface wear (including small chips to the edge of the base, and losses to the gilt on the robe). The stone has fine natural fissures.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

The present figure of a Buddha belongs to a small number of votive objects carved from lapis lazuli during the 18th century. A gilt-bronze and turquoise-inlaid shrine in the Qing Summer Palace at Chengde encloses a lapis lazuli figure, see Buddhist Art from Rehol. Tibetan Buddhist Images and Ritual Objects from the Qing Dynasty Summer Palace at Chengde, The Chang Foundation and Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei and Kaohsiung, 1999, cat. no. 81. A lapis figure embellished with pearls and semi-precious stones in the Qing Court Collection is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Treasures of Imperial Court, Hong Kong, 2004, pl. 182. Compare also two lapis figures of Amitayus, the first atop a white jade lotus base, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 26th April 2004, lot 995, and the second without a stand sold in these rooms, 17th September 2014, lot 483. See also a figure of a Buddha from the Concordia House Collection, also sold in these rooms, 19th March 2007.
There is little doubt that lapis lazuli was prized during the Qianlong period, as evidenced by a pair of Qianlong period stone lions dyed to imitate the stone, included in the exhibition Tributes from Guangdong to the Qing Court, Hong Kong, 1987, cat. nos 71 and 72; and a Qianlong period lapis lazuli mountain in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated in Michael Knight, He Li and Terese Tse Bartholomew, Chinese Jades, San Francisco, 2007, pl. 354.