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Lot Essay
This exceptionally finely cast bronze figure is related not just to other bronze guardian figures, such as the very similar, but larger (58.5 cm. high), bronze figure illustrated by Giter & Li Yin, The Beauty of Ancient Chinese Sculptures, December 1995, p. 82, no. 31, where the figure is identified as Dhanada (Northern Lokapala), guardian of the North, but also to large painted stucco figures found in temples. A stylistically similar figure of massive proportions (2 m. high), identified as the Guardian of the North, in the Baimasi (White Horse Temple), Luoyang, is illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji; diaosu bian; Yuan Ming Qing diaosu (6), Beijing 1988, pl. 9. Dated late Yuan/early Ming, the guardian is very similarly attired and stands in a very similar posture holding a stupa in the raised left hand, and a halberd in the right.
See, also, the large (86.4 cm.) gilt-bronze figure of Dhanada in the Fuller Memorial Collection, Seattle Art Museum, illustrated by H. Munsterberg, Chinese Buddhist Bronzes, Vermont and Tokyo, 1967, pl. 93, which the author dates to the 15th century. This figure, too, is stylistically similar to the present and other comparable figures, and based on the position of the hands would have held a stupa and a halberd. Like the present figure and the Giter & Li Yin figure, it is very finely cast and detailed.
See, also, the large (86.4 cm.) gilt-bronze figure of Dhanada in the Fuller Memorial Collection, Seattle Art Museum, illustrated by H. Munsterberg, Chinese Buddhist Bronzes, Vermont and Tokyo, 1967, pl. 93, which the author dates to the 15th century. This figure, too, is stylistically similar to the present and other comparable figures, and based on the position of the hands would have held a stupa and a halberd. Like the present figure and the Giter & Li Yin figure, it is very finely cast and detailed.