NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY (386-534)

Details

A RARE SMALL GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF A GUARDIAN
NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY (386-534)
The standing figure finely cast with right hand held forward in a fist and the left hand grasping a sword, the slender torso accentuated by the ends of the shawl that are gathered at the waist before falling in a loop on the sides of the wind-blown skirt and then looping up over the right arm, also wearing a necklace and a crown tied with long tabs that trail onto the shoulders, the narrow face cast with angular features set in a scowling expression, the plain back showing the curve and arch of the body and set with a projecting rectangular tab for attachment
5 in. (12.7 cm.) high, wood stand

Literature

Chuugoku bijutsu-ten, Series 2, Rikucho no bijutsu, Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, 1975, p. 36, no. 3-178.
Saburo Matsubara, Chuugoku bukkyo chokokushi ron (The Path of Chinese Buddhist Sculpture), vol. 1, Early Six Dynasties, Tokyo, 1995, pl. 240a.
Zhongguo liu shi hai wai fo jiao zao xiang zong he tu mu (Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Buddhist Statues in Overseas Collections), vol. 2, Beijing, 2005, p. 367.

Sale room notice

The stand for this lot is not made of wood. This lot also has a box.

Lot Essay

Buddhist guardian figures, such as this extraordinary example, are typically represented in terse movement, with twisted torsos, contorted limbs, grasping hands and fierce expressions. Such figures would have been set at the four corners of a Buddhist altar to guard the four cardinal points as protectors of Buddhist Law. Compare several small gilt-bronze guardian figures dated to the Six Dynasties and Tang periods, illustrated by H. Munsterberg, Chinese Buddhist Bronzes, Tokyo, 1967, pp. 133-5, nos. 87-92. The present figure is distinguished from this group by the particularly fine casting and the dramatic energy of the 'wind-blown' skirt. A comparable gilt-bronze guardian figure with similarly rendered drapery was sold in these rooms, 24 March 2004, lot 71.

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