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Lot Essay
The present figure is identified by the 'sun' and 'moon' symbols as Marici, whose name means 'ray of light'. In Chinese Buddhism, this deity assumes the female form and is believed to be the mother of the Northern Star; and also referred to as 'the mother of the Dipper', a constellation in Sagittarius. For a further reading cf. L. Frédéric, Buddhism: Flammarion Iconographic Guides, Paris, 1995, pp-224-225.
A similar figure cast with an additional head of a boar, one of the manifestations of Marici, was sold in these Rooms, 24 October 1993, lot 542A. Cf. a 14th Century Guanyin seated in royal ease in the British Museum, include in the exhibition, Chinese Art under the Mongols, The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), Catalogue, no. 9; see also the figure of Sakayamuni as an ascetic, ibid., no. 18; for the floral brocade designs at the rim.
A similar figure cast with an additional head of a boar, one of the manifestations of Marici, was sold in these Rooms, 24 October 1993, lot 542A. Cf. a 14th Century Guanyin seated in royal ease in the British Museum, include in the exhibition, Chinese Art under the Mongols, The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), Catalogue, no. 9; see also the figure of Sakayamuni as an ascetic, ibid., no. 18; for the floral brocade designs at the rim.