A Large Finely Cast Gilt-Bronze Figure of a Bodhisattva

MING DYNASTY, 16TH/17TH CENTURY

Details

A Large Finely Cast Gilt-Bronze Figure of a Bodhisattva
Ming Dynasty, 16th/17th Century
Shown seated in vajrasana with right hand raised in vitarkamudra and left hand in abhayamudra, wearing a finely detailed necklace looped with beaded pendent chains and layered robes with foliate borders falling around the body in crisp folds eventually fanning out in front atop a curved mat bordered with a band of scrolling leaves, the face with downcast expression, the hair dressed in long knotted tresses and pulled up into a stiff looped topknot behind an ornate openwork crown centered by three flaming pearls, the deep, rounded lotus base raised on a spreading foot of openwork foliate scroll
46in. (116.9cm.) high overall

Lot Essay

Compare the similar gilt-bronze bodhisattva, also with three pearls centering the crown, in the collection of the Denver Art Museum, illustrated in Hai-wai Yi-zhen (Chinese Art in Overseas Collections: Buddhist Sculpture), Taipei, 1986, p. 191, no. 176. Several other similar large gilt-bronze figures of bodhisattavas are in the Chang Foundation, Taipei, and illustrated by J. Spencer, Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, Taipei, 1993, nos. 37-39. All share the same fineness of casting and the delicacy of detail, especially in the jewelry.

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