Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese Buddhist Gilt-Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection
Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese Buddhist Gilt-Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection
A magnificent finely cast gilt-bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara Sui dynasty | 隋 鎏金銅觀世音菩薩立像
Auction Closed
October 12, 12:42 PM GMT
Estimate
2,500,000 - 3,500,000 HKD
Lot Details
Description
A magnificent finely cast gilt-bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara
Sui dynasty
隋 鎏金銅觀世音菩薩立像
depicted standing on a hollow lotus base atop an octagonal plinth, the face bearing a stern yet wise expression, with the right elbow raised and bent and the left arm lowered and relaxed, both hands holding the elaborate long trailing shawl, the dhoti tied with a sash that drapes limply between the deity’s bare feet, all supported on a double-lotus base above a hexagonal pedestal
h. 16.8 cm
Collection of Fong Chow (1923-2012), acquired prior to 1990.
Christie's New York, 20th March 2014, lot 2048.
周方（1923-2012年）收藏，得於1990年之前
紐約佳士得2014年3月20日，編號2048
Leopold Swergold, Thoughts on Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes, 2014, Aventura, cat. no. 13.
Beatrice Chan, 'Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston', Arts of Asia, January/February 2018, pp. 58-65.
Leopold Swergold，《Thoughts on Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes》，2014年，圖版13
Beatrice Chan，〈Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston〉，《Arts of Asia》，2018年1至2月，頁58-65
This large, sensitively cast figure depicts the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara standing on a hollow lotus base on an octagonal plinth, wearing an elaborate long trailing shawl and a dhoti tied with a sash. The slender body held in an erect yet graceful pose exemplifies the essence of Sui sculptural style, and bears only the slightest hint of the more sensuous forms to follow in the Tang dynasty. The attribute of the willow branch, that first appears in the late 6th century, corroborates the identification of the figure and period. A similar Sui dynasty gilt-bronze figure in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is published in Denise Patry Leidy and Donna Strahan, Wisdom Embodied: Chinese Buddhist and Daoist Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Haven, 2010, pl. 12. Both share the same exaggerated supine form, depicted clasping the willow tightly in the right hand, with similar sweep towards the left hip, so characteristic of the art of the Sui dynasty, with similar treatment of the cascading robes.
See also a closely related sculpture illustrated in Rene-Yvon Lefevre d'Argencé ed., Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage Collection, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 1974, cat. no. 67.
此尊觀世音菩薩立於蓮花座上，座下設八角臺，帔帛華貴，垂瀉而下，衣帶盤結，繞扣腰間。身姿纖秀挺拔，頗顯隋代風範，而唐代所崇之曼麗體態亦初露端倪。六世紀末始造觀音像持楊柳枝，故而此尊身份及年代得以印證。參考一隋代鎏金銅造像，紐約大都會藝術博物館藏，載於 Denise Patry Leidy 及 Donna Strahan，《Wisdom Embodied: Chinese Buddhist and Daoist Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art》，紐黑文，2010年，圖版12（圖一）。對比兩尊，皆泰然後仰，左胯斜挺，右手持枝，衣帶垂瀉，深得隋代造像藝術之精髓。另對照一例，見 Rene-Yvon Lefevre d'Argencé 編，《Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage Collection》，舊金山亞洲藝術博物館，三藩市，1974年，編號67。