Lot Essay
It is rare to find Buddhist images carved from zitan wood. The earliest documented wood carvings are two sandlewood statues of Buddha, one with a 'shining pedestal' (over 90 cm. high) and the other with a 'translucent pedestal' (38 cm. high), bought back from India by the Tang dynasty pilgrim monk, Xuanzang (A.D. 629-645); for further reading, see Beal, S., The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang, London, 1911, pp. 213-4.
Compare the facial features with a large gilt bronze figure of Sakyamuni, also bearing a Yongle mark, in the British Museum which was included in the exhibition Buddhism Art and Faith, illustrated by W. Zwalf (ed.), Catalogue, p. 2, no. 305. The author notes that the British Museum example can be closely related to images of the Buddha found on illustrated sutras of 14th and early 15th century, such as a Sino-Tibetan illustrated woodblock edition of the Suvarnaprabhasasutra, dated to A.D. 1419, and the Qi sha Tripitaka, ibid., p. 304.
(US$70,000-90,000)
Compare the facial features with a large gilt bronze figure of Sakyamuni, also bearing a Yongle mark, in the British Museum which was included in the exhibition Buddhism Art and Faith, illustrated by W. Zwalf (ed.), Catalogue, p. 2, no. 305. The author notes that the British Museum example can be closely related to images of the Buddha found on illustrated sutras of 14th and early 15th century, such as a Sino-Tibetan illustrated woodblock edition of the Suvarnaprabhasasutra, dated to A.D. 1419, and the Qi sha Tripitaka, ibid., p. 304.
(US$70,000-90,000)