A RED SANDSTONE FIGURE OF AVALOKITESVARA

Details

A RED SANDSTONE FIGURE OF AVALOKITESVARA
SUI DYNASTY

Carved with right hand raised holding a fly whisk, the left holding an amphora, wearing long beaded chains joined by a ring at the waist, over the robes and a long shawl draped over the arms, the face cut with crisp features in a gentle expression below a petal-segmented crown centered by Amitabha Buddha, hung with trailing scarves, standing on a single lotus base raised on a large rectangular plinth with a lion at each of the front corners, the reverse rather simply cut--21¾in. (55.2cm.) high

Lot Essay

Compare the sculptures of standing bodhisattvas which display stylistic characteristics similar to the present example: a gray limestone figure dated to the Sui Dynasty in the Avery Brundage Collection, The Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, illustrated by d'Argencé, Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture, Japan, 1974, pl. 76; one in the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Netherlands, illustrated in Chinese Art in Overseas Collections, Buddhist Sculpture, Taipei, 1986, no. 78; and two included in the exhibition, Ancient Chinese Art, Tokyo, 1962, Catalogue, nos. 22 and 23