A RARE MONUMENTAL PARCEL-GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF A GUARDIAN

MING DYNASTY

Details

A RARE MONUMENTAL PARCEL-GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF A GUARDIAN
Ming Dynasty
The military figure well cast standing with hands held in anjali mudra, wearing ornate armor tied with cords and sashes, the helmet with a central sun and cloud decoration below a tall finial surmounted by a globular ornament set above pendent feathers, the gilding on the face, neck and hands visible beneath the black and pale milky green patina, with a rectangular post extending from the bottom of each foot, raised on a square limestone base carved with clouds
Figure 76in. (193cm.) high, with stand 93in. (236cm.) high approximately

Provenance

Yamanaka & Co., Kyoto, by tradition purchased in Beijing, 1918

Lot Essay

Compare the similar and equally massive (206cm.) painted stucco guardian figure of this type with hands similarly positioned in front of a scabbarded sword which rests atop the arms, originally in the Palace Museum, Beijing, now in the Baima Temple, Luoyang province, Henan county, and illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji; diaosu; Yuan Ming Qing diao su (The Great Treasury of Chinese Fine Arts; Sculpture; Yuan, Ming and Qing Sculpture), Beijing, 1988, no. 8, vol. 6, where it is dated late Yuan/early Ming dynasty.

Compare, also, two large bronze guardian figures of similar type with hands in the same position illustrated in Fojiao diaosu mingpin tulu (Images of Famous Buddhist Sculpture), Beijing, 1997, p. 561, no. 538, with sword still in place (58cm. high) and p. 562, no. 539 (103cm. high).