A bronze torso of a Bodhisattva, Late Yuan/early Ming dynasty | 元末/明初 銅菩薩殘件

Berwald Oriental Art Ltd., London, 12th June 2003.

Berwald Oriental Art Ltd.，倫敦，2003年6月12日

This particularly moving figure represents an evolution from the traditional iconography of the Song dynasty (960-1279) Buddhist sculpture. Its salient stylistic features probably mark it as a generation later, and can be compared with the iconography of the Yuan and early Ming Buddhist statuary, namely a fuller oval face, a bare chest with elaborate beaded necklace, a thin shawl covering the upper back and enveloping the shoulders.

See a Boddhisattva with related features in the collection of the Ashmoleum Museum, Oxford, no. EA1956.1376, attributed to the late Song Dynasty. Compare also a pair of 14th century parcel-gilt bronze figures of Bodhisattvas, sold in our Paris rooms, 10th December 2019, lot 14, as well as a large Yuan dynasty gilt-bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara, included in the exhibition Buddha. 2000 years of Buddhist Art. 232 Masterpieces, European Centre for Art and Industrial Culture, Völklinger Hütte, 2016, cat. no. 59.