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Lot Essay
Originally described as Korean and dated to the Koryo period, following the 1987 exhibition, the present figure was later deemed to be Chinese and dated to the Song dynasty on account of the very distinctive stylistic features of the headdress, facial expression and robes found only on Chinese figures of this period.
The question over the origin of this figure arises because gilt-bronze figures dating to the Song dynasty are extremely rare and few related examples have been published. A gilt-bronze figure of the Watermoon Guanyin dating to the Song dynasty displaying very similar facial features and with the same treatment of the belt tying the robes at the waist in the Cleveland Museum of Art is illustrated in Hai-Wai Yi-Chen, Buddhist Sculpture, vol. 2, Taipei, 1986, pl. 149. Compare the facial expression and relatively flattened casting of the robes with those found on another figure of Avalokitesvara dated to the 10th/11th century sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 3 November 1998, lot 1011. Compare, also, a related seated bronze Maitreya Bodhisattva in the British Museum dated to the 11th century, included in the exhibition Buddhism Art and Faith at the British Museum, London, 1985 and illustrated in the Catalogue, p. 204, no. 294. Another, larger Bodhisattva dated to the Song dynasty with similarly rendered facial expression and robes in the Shanghai Museum Collection is illustrated in Ancient Chinese Sculpture Gallery, The Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 1996, pl. 69.
The question over the origin of this figure arises because gilt-bronze figures dating to the Song dynasty are extremely rare and few related examples have been published. A gilt-bronze figure of the Watermoon Guanyin dating to the Song dynasty displaying very similar facial features and with the same treatment of the belt tying the robes at the waist in the Cleveland Museum of Art is illustrated in Hai-Wai Yi-Chen, Buddhist Sculpture, vol. 2, Taipei, 1986, pl. 149. Compare the facial expression and relatively flattened casting of the robes with those found on another figure of Avalokitesvara dated to the 10th/11th century sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 3 November 1998, lot 1011. Compare, also, a related seated bronze Maitreya Bodhisattva in the British Museum dated to the 11th century, included in the exhibition Buddhism Art and Faith at the British Museum, London, 1985 and illustrated in the Catalogue, p. 204, no. 294. Another, larger Bodhisattva dated to the Song dynasty with similarly rendered facial expression and robes in the Shanghai Museum Collection is illustrated in Ancient Chinese Sculpture Gallery, The Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 1996, pl. 69.