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Lot Essay
This remarkable, well-preserved figure likely represents Avalokitesvara (Guanyin in Chinese) the most popular and benevolent of all bodhisattvas. Commanding in height, it was sculpted from a single piece of wood to which the arms and ornaments have been attached. The broad, corpulent figure is shown in princely guise, with long hair gathered up into an elaborate coiffure behind a crown and splendidly attired in sumptuous silk scarves and jewelry as befitting his regal heritage. The restraint and penchant for abstract form and line of earlier eras is here replaced by a marked interest in movement and naturalism, which is effectively enhanced by the glass-inlaid eyes.
A remarkably similar polychrome wood standing figure of a bodhisattva of comparable size and dated to the Jin dynasty is in the Cleveland Museum of Art and illustrated in Hai-wai Yi-chen: Chinese Art in Overseas Collections, Buddhist Sculpture, Taipei, 1990, no. 135. (fig. 1) The pose, the robust body, the shape of the face and the facial details and the rendering of the scarves and other drapery are all extremely similar, so much so that it is quite possible that the two may have come from the same temple. A pair of carved wood figures of Guanyin also bearing very similarly rendered drapery, but with thick gesso and painted surface, is in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, and illustrated in Homage to Heaven, Homage to Earth: Chinese Treasures of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1992, p. 179, nos. 104-5. Like the present figure, one of the Royal Ontario bodhisattvas is shown wearing a belt that may be imitating gilded jade or gold plaques. This same figure also bears an inscription dated to the sixth year of Mingchang in the Jin dynasty (AD 1195, during the reign of the Jin emperor Zhangzong). The inscription, written on a wood board that covers a rectangular opening in the back, places the origin of these sculptures in present-day Linfen County, Shanxi province.
Other polychrome wood figures of bodhisattvas of this approximate date and with similar drapery include the figure dated to the late Northern Song dynasty in The Cleveland Museum of Art, illustrated Masterworks of Asian Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998, p. 57; the example dated to the Northern Song dynasty in the Musée Guimet, illustrated in The Path to Enlightenment: Masterpieces of Buddhist Sculpture from the National Museum of Asian Arts/Musée Guimet, Paris, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 1996, p. 53, no. 42; the figure in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated in Hai-wai Yi-chen: Chinese Art in Overseas Collections, Buddhist Sculpture, op. cit, p. 173, no. 160; and the figure with more elaborate treatment of the drapery and scarves in the Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, illustrated by J. Larson and R. Kerr, Guanyin, A Masterpiece Revealed, London, 1985, fig. 1. This book documents the conservation and analysis of a painted wood figure of Guanyin seated in rajalilasana and of Jin date in the Victoria and Albert Museum. See, also, the stylistically similar torso of a bodhisattva dated to the Song dynasty and illustrated by A. Priest, Chinese Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1944, pl. CXV, no. 68. Here, again, one sees the similar face, body shape, tied scarf and treatment of crown and hair.
The present figure also bears resemblence to several polychrome wood figures of bodhisattvas with similar drapery, but shown in a seated position, such as the figure in the Shanghai Museum dated to the Jin dynasty, illustrated in Zhongguo gudai diaosuguan (Ancient Chinese Sculpture Gallery), Shanghai Museum, 1997, p. 32, lower right; the figure dated to the Yuan dynasty in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by d'Argencé, ed., Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage Collection, Japan, 1974, p. 277, no. 145; the figure dated to the 13th century in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated in Guanyin: A Masterpiece Revealed, op. cit, p. 70, figs. 87-9; and the figure sold in these rooms, 16 September 1999, lot 21.
A remarkably similar polychrome wood standing figure of a bodhisattva of comparable size and dated to the Jin dynasty is in the Cleveland Museum of Art and illustrated in Hai-wai Yi-chen: Chinese Art in Overseas Collections, Buddhist Sculpture, Taipei, 1990, no. 135. (fig. 1) The pose, the robust body, the shape of the face and the facial details and the rendering of the scarves and other drapery are all extremely similar, so much so that it is quite possible that the two may have come from the same temple. A pair of carved wood figures of Guanyin also bearing very similarly rendered drapery, but with thick gesso and painted surface, is in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, and illustrated in Homage to Heaven, Homage to Earth: Chinese Treasures of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1992, p. 179, nos. 104-5. Like the present figure, one of the Royal Ontario bodhisattvas is shown wearing a belt that may be imitating gilded jade or gold plaques. This same figure also bears an inscription dated to the sixth year of Mingchang in the Jin dynasty (AD 1195, during the reign of the Jin emperor Zhangzong). The inscription, written on a wood board that covers a rectangular opening in the back, places the origin of these sculptures in present-day Linfen County, Shanxi province.
Other polychrome wood figures of bodhisattvas of this approximate date and with similar drapery include the figure dated to the late Northern Song dynasty in The Cleveland Museum of Art, illustrated Masterworks of Asian Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998, p. 57; the example dated to the Northern Song dynasty in the Musée Guimet, illustrated in The Path to Enlightenment: Masterpieces of Buddhist Sculpture from the National Museum of Asian Arts/Musée Guimet, Paris, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 1996, p. 53, no. 42; the figure in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated in Hai-wai Yi-chen: Chinese Art in Overseas Collections, Buddhist Sculpture, op. cit, p. 173, no. 160; and the figure with more elaborate treatment of the drapery and scarves in the Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, illustrated by J. Larson and R. Kerr, Guanyin, A Masterpiece Revealed, London, 1985, fig. 1. This book documents the conservation and analysis of a painted wood figure of Guanyin seated in rajalilasana and of Jin date in the Victoria and Albert Museum. See, also, the stylistically similar torso of a bodhisattva dated to the Song dynasty and illustrated by A. Priest, Chinese Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1944, pl. CXV, no. 68. Here, again, one sees the similar face, body shape, tied scarf and treatment of crown and hair.
The present figure also bears resemblence to several polychrome wood figures of bodhisattvas with similar drapery, but shown in a seated position, such as the figure in the Shanghai Museum dated to the Jin dynasty, illustrated in Zhongguo gudai diaosuguan (Ancient Chinese Sculpture Gallery), Shanghai Museum, 1997, p. 32, lower right; the figure dated to the Yuan dynasty in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by d'Argencé, ed., Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage Collection, Japan, 1974, p. 277, no. 145; the figure dated to the 13th century in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated in Guanyin: A Masterpiece Revealed, op. cit, p. 70, figs. 87-9; and the figure sold in these rooms, 16 September 1999, lot 21.