A rare limestone figure of a bodhisattva, Northern Wei dynasty | 北魏 石灰岩菩薩立像

Yamanaka & Co., Tokyo, by repute.

Collection of Baron Joseph Van der Elst (1896-1971), Belgium.

傳山中商會，東京

Joseph Van der Elst 男爵（1896-1971年），比利時

XXième Biennale des Antiquaires 2002, Christian Deydier Oriental Bronzes Ltd., Paris, 2002, cat. no. 31 and cover. 

《XXième Biennale des Antiquaires 2002》，Christian Deydier Oriental Bronzes Ltd，巴黎，2002年，編號31及封面

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.

For another standing bodhisattva of similar size from the Longmen cave temples, see the sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, probably originally from Guyang Cave, donated to the museum by Mathias Komor, 1948, accession no. 48.182.4, illustrated in Denise Patry Leidy and Donna Strahan, Wisdom Embodied: Chinese Buddhist and Daoist Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Haven, 2010, cat. no. A5.

The posture of the current sculpture, with face inclining elegantly to one side, is unusual and endows the Bodhisattva with an element of vitality and energy. For a Bodhisattva depicted in the more conventional standing posture, looking straight forwards, see the figure depicted in situ in Guyang Cave at Longmen, published in Zhongguo meishu quanji [The complete collection of Chinese art], vol. 11, Shanghai, 1988, p. 5. It shares several features with the current sculpture, including the powerful contrast of the curved undulating scarf with the pendulous hanging robes.

It is rare for Longmen sculptures of this quality and completeness to emerge in the market. For other examples at auction, see the sculpture of a ‘pensive’ Maitreya from the collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, sold in our New York rooms, 19th-20th March 2007, lot 503, and a fragment of a seated Bodhisattva from the collection of Sakamoto Goro, sold in these rooms, 8th October 2013, lot 116. A smaller Longmen head with closely related relief-carving technique on the crown, was sold at Christie's New York, 18th March 2009, lot 348, from the Arthur M. Sackler collection.

Baron Joseph Van der Elst (1896-1971) was a Belgian diplomat, writer and collector of Old Master paintings and other works of art. Together with his wife Allison Campbell-Roebling he bought the 14th century Oostkerke Castle before the Second World War and restored it to its former glory.