Lot Essay
There appear to be no other examples of a bronze of this size with a similar wealth of detail in casting.
A number of features are notable in their similarity with other Buddhist bronzes from around this period:
1)The elongated waisted torso with its sharply defined silhouette compares closely to a large number of Yongle marked examples, cf. Von Schroeder, Indo Tibetan Bronzes, pp.516-519; see also Hai-Wai Yi-Chen, Chinese Art in Overseas Collections, Buddhist Sculpture, col.pl.164 for a seated Guanyin in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco dated late Yuan to early Ming. The dhoti top is drawn down partially obscuring the jewelled belt emphasising the torso.
2)The remarkably fine articulation of the jewelled necklaces and festooned belt going around the entire waist recalls the Tantric four-headed Guanyin dated 14th-15th Century illustrated in the Avery Brundage Collection -Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture, no.159; the complexity of the treatment of the topknot is also a comparable feature. In its beaded detail, the present lot harks back to the group of Yuan yingqing Guanyin figures, cf. the large example now in the Capital Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, pl.42; another dated 1298 in the Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, illustrated by Tregear, L'Art Chinois, pl.119 and a third in the Metropolitan Museum of Art illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, Kodansha Series, vol.12, col.pl.26.
3)The fully detailed textile surfaces of the shawl also appears a unique feature on the present example. The Indian lotuses are variegated and arch widely in scrolling movement, with at least eight different types of blossoms, some spikey, some wavy with combed details enclosing central motifs that include a flaming jewel, crossed scrolls, crossed horns, a vertical double axe-head, a cash, a lotus pod, and a ruyi-head among others. The random mixture of these emblems occur only in Yuan blue and white porcelain; cf. a dish illustrated by Misugi, Chinese Porcelain Collections in the Near East, The Ardebil Shrine Collection, no.A13 where the flaming jewel, crossed scrolls, crossed horns and ribboned cash emblems all appear in lotus panels around the medallion. Vertical double axe-heads also appear on the guan sold in our London Rooms, 6 June 1988, lot 149 alongside flaming jewels and crossed scrolls and horns. The manner in which the babao were thus used appear to be a decorative trait peculiar to the Yuan period. It reappears in the late Ming period, but became standardised as eight symbols with axe-heads shown horizontally. The stylistic configuration of the motifs on the Guanyin point to a date in the late Yuan or the beginning of the Ming Dynasty.
4)The soft, natural flow of the draperies, the knotted curls of the hair and the very symmetrical bow-shaped lips also compare closely with the figure of Siddhartha in the Cleveland Museum of Art illustrated by Von Schroeder, op.cit., pl.143E; the floral treatment of the base and the textile borders show a similar refinement and variation in conception to the present lot.
The best Yuan and early Ming Buddhist images were cast by Nepalese mastercraftsmen. This would account for the unusual features of the Indian stye of hair which departs radically from wood scultptures in the Song to Yuan periods.
A number of features are notable in their similarity with other Buddhist bronzes from around this period:
1)The elongated waisted torso with its sharply defined silhouette compares closely to a large number of Yongle marked examples, cf. Von Schroeder, Indo Tibetan Bronzes, pp.516-519; see also Hai-Wai Yi-Chen, Chinese Art in Overseas Collections, Buddhist Sculpture, col.pl.164 for a seated Guanyin in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco dated late Yuan to early Ming. The dhoti top is drawn down partially obscuring the jewelled belt emphasising the torso.
2)The remarkably fine articulation of the jewelled necklaces and festooned belt going around the entire waist recalls the Tantric four-headed Guanyin dated 14th-15th Century illustrated in the Avery Brundage Collection -Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture, no.159; the complexity of the treatment of the topknot is also a comparable feature. In its beaded detail, the present lot harks back to the group of Yuan yingqing Guanyin figures, cf. the large example now in the Capital Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, pl.42; another dated 1298 in the Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, illustrated by Tregear, L'Art Chinois, pl.119 and a third in the Metropolitan Museum of Art illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, Kodansha Series, vol.12, col.pl.26.
3)The fully detailed textile surfaces of the shawl also appears a unique feature on the present example. The Indian lotuses are variegated and arch widely in scrolling movement, with at least eight different types of blossoms, some spikey, some wavy with combed details enclosing central motifs that include a flaming jewel, crossed scrolls, crossed horns, a vertical double axe-head, a cash, a lotus pod, and a ruyi-head among others. The random mixture of these emblems occur only in Yuan blue and white porcelain; cf. a dish illustrated by Misugi, Chinese Porcelain Collections in the Near East, The Ardebil Shrine Collection, no.A13 where the flaming jewel, crossed scrolls, crossed horns and ribboned cash emblems all appear in lotus panels around the medallion. Vertical double axe-heads also appear on the guan sold in our London Rooms, 6 June 1988, lot 149 alongside flaming jewels and crossed scrolls and horns. The manner in which the babao were thus used appear to be a decorative trait peculiar to the Yuan period. It reappears in the late Ming period, but became standardised as eight symbols with axe-heads shown horizontally. The stylistic configuration of the motifs on the Guanyin point to a date in the late Yuan or the beginning of the Ming Dynasty.
4)The soft, natural flow of the draperies, the knotted curls of the hair and the very symmetrical bow-shaped lips also compare closely with the figure of Siddhartha in the Cleveland Museum of Art illustrated by Von Schroeder, op.cit., pl.143E; the floral treatment of the base and the textile borders show a similar refinement and variation in conception to the present lot.
The best Yuan and early Ming Buddhist images were cast by Nepalese mastercraftsmen. This would account for the unusual features of the Indian stye of hair which departs radically from wood scultptures in the Song to Yuan periods.