拍品專文
The size of this figure and the following lot suggests that they could have been taken from a large niche carved among the principal caves at Longmen, near Luoyang in Henan province. The poses of lots 301 and 302, with opposite hands raised, suggest that they originally stood on either side of a central Buddha image, like the pair of bodhisattvas behind and on either side of the large central Sakyamuni Buddha in the Leigutai caves on the east side of the Lo River across from the Longmen caves, Siren, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, New York, 1925, vol. 4, pl. 462
The poses, modeling of the supple torso and 'U'-shaped folds of the skirt can be seen on other bodhisattvas in such caves as the Jinan, Erlianhua South and Leigutai Middle Caves, which are believed to be from the late seventh and early eighth centuries. See Longmen wenwu baoguan suo and Beijing daxue kaoguxi, Zhongguo Shiku (Chugoku sekkutsu); Longmen shiku, vol. 2 (Tokyo and Beijing: Heibonsha and Wenwu Press, 1988), pls. 187, 188, 194 and 256; and Longmen wenwu baoguan suo, Longmen shiku (Beijing: Wenwu Press, 1980), pls. 184, 185
Refer, too, to photographs of the Longmen caves taken between 1918 and 1920, in Tokiwa Daijo and Sekino Tadashi, Shina Bukkyo Shiseki, vol. II, Kyoto, 1925-1930. A bodhisattva from the Eastern Hills, Longmen, in the same posture as lot 301, with right hand raised and left hand extended and grasping an elixir bottle, shown with accompanying lokapala, is in pl. 75-2. The bodhisattva, in the same posture as lot 302 and from the Jinan cave in the Eastern Hills, is in pl. 71-2
A comparable figure, with left hand holding up an elixir bottle and right hand to the side, now in a private collection, is illustrated by Siren, op. cit., vol. 4, pl. 463 and more recently in Longmen shiku yanjiuso, Longmen liusan diaoxiang ji (Lost Sculptures from Longmen), Shanghai Renmin meishu chubarischem 1993, pl. 78
Compare, also, the pair of very fine free-standing bodhisattvas in the University Museum, Philadelphia; also, the headless stone figure in the Freer Collection at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., with scarf draped similarly across the chest and dhoti tied around the hips and knotted in front, published by Osvald Siren, op. cit., vol. 3, pls. 377 and 378
The poses, modeling of the supple torso and 'U'-shaped folds of the skirt can be seen on other bodhisattvas in such caves as the Jinan, Erlianhua South and Leigutai Middle Caves, which are believed to be from the late seventh and early eighth centuries. See Longmen wenwu baoguan suo and Beijing daxue kaoguxi, Zhongguo Shiku (Chugoku sekkutsu); Longmen shiku, vol. 2 (Tokyo and Beijing: Heibonsha and Wenwu Press, 1988), pls. 187, 188, 194 and 256; and Longmen wenwu baoguan suo, Longmen shiku (Beijing: Wenwu Press, 1980), pls. 184, 185
Refer, too, to photographs of the Longmen caves taken between 1918 and 1920, in Tokiwa Daijo and Sekino Tadashi, Shina Bukkyo Shiseki, vol. II, Kyoto, 1925-1930. A bodhisattva from the Eastern Hills, Longmen, in the same posture as lot 301, with right hand raised and left hand extended and grasping an elixir bottle, shown with accompanying lokapala, is in pl. 75-2. The bodhisattva, in the same posture as lot 302 and from the Jinan cave in the Eastern Hills, is in pl. 71-2
A comparable figure, with left hand holding up an elixir bottle and right hand to the side, now in a private collection, is illustrated by Siren, op. cit., vol. 4, pl. 463 and more recently in Longmen shiku yanjiuso, Longmen liusan diaoxiang ji (Lost Sculptures from Longmen), Shanghai Renmin meishu chubarischem 1993, pl. 78
Compare, also, the pair of very fine free-standing bodhisattvas in the University Museum, Philadelphia; also, the headless stone figure in the Freer Collection at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., with scarf draped similarly across the chest and dhoti tied around the hips and knotted in front, published by Osvald Siren, op. cit., vol. 3, pls. 377 and 378