carved in high relief, the upright figure with a slender physique and narrow shoulders, the right hand lowered holding an attribute, dressed in a layered skirt and shawl draped over the shoulders, wearing a necklace with a central pendant and ribbons hanging from the headdress, the serene face with downcast eyes, the stone of a rich and variegated coffee-brown patina, mounted metal stand
The present lot shares features of Sui dynasty sculpture from Shaanxi province, such as the oversized head with a squarish jaw, deeply grooved eyebrows, prominent lips, slight hint of a waist above the ring through which the scarves are drawn, and eleborate jewelry draped over a rigid upright body. A related example is illustrated in René-Yvon Lefebvre d'Argencé,
Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage Collection, Tokyo / New York, 1974, no. 76; and other examples are also illustrated in Osvald Sirén,
Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, vol. 3, New York, 1925, pls. 265, 266A, 267A and 268B.
For a larger figure of a bodhisattva, see the figure of Guanyin in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated in Alan Priest, Chinese Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1944, pl. LVII, which shows similar features, jewellery and garment folds; another smaller figure in the University Museum, Philadelphia, published in Osvald Sirén, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, London, 1925, pl. 314A; and a fragment of a related figure in the Detroit Institute of Arts, included in Hai-wai yi-chen/Chinese Art in Overseas Collections: Buddhist Sculpture, Taipei, 1986, pl. 77.
Compare also a limestone figure of a bodhisattva originally in the collection of Jakob Goldschmidt, sold in our New York rooms, 23rd March 2004, lot 626.
