- 3666
明十六世紀 鎏金銅獅吼觀音坐像
描述
- bronze
來源
倫敦佳士得1995年6月5日,編號276
Condition
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
拍品資料及來源
The craftsman’s remarkable command over his medium is evident in the engaging sense of naturalism. Seated in a position of ‘royal ease’, a sway in the body is captured through the weight of the body relaxed into her left arm that rests on a stand while her right arm drapes on her bent knee. This lyrical sense of movement is heightened through the flowing ribbons that flutter across the body. A comparable figure of smaller size on a lotus petal base, also with traces of red lacquer and gilding, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Classics of the Forbidden City. Guanyin the Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, 2012, pl. 83. A larger figure of Guanyin, seated more stiffly on a roaring lion atop a rocky ledge, was sold in our London rooms, 1st/2nd November 1984, lot 337.
Guanyin is typically depicted as a beautiful female with a warm smile, wearing worldly ornaments such as a bejewelled headdress, rich necklaces and strings of pearls. She is a sharp contrast with the plain, austere images of the Buddha, thus emphasising her non-ethereal status. It is thought that anyone who called on the name of Guanyin during times of distress would be heard and rescued by her, hence why she is one of the most worshipped deities in Buddhism.
The earliest textural reference to this rare form of Avalokitesvara appears in the Sadhanamala [Garland of Sadhanas], the greatest iconographic compendium assembled by Abhayakaragupta, the Indian monk-scholar in the late eleventh century, where the manifestation is thought to have had the ability to heal diseases (Denise Patry Leidy and Donna Strahan, Wisdom Embodied. Chinese Buddhist and Daoist Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, p. 156).