LATE YUAN/EARLY MING DYNASTY, 14TH/15TH CENTURY

Details

A RARE LACQUERED WOOD FIGURE OF A BODHISATTVA
LATE YUAN/EARLY MING DYNASTY, 14TH/15TH CENTURY
The figure is shown seated in dhyanasana with right hand held palm-up in front of the body and the left hand, also palm-up, above the lap, and wears elaborate jewelry, a shawl draped over the shoulders that billows around the sides to drape over the forearms, and a dhoti folded over below the waist beneath a girdle of beaded garlands. The hair is worn in a bound topknot surmounted by a flaming pearl, and also in curling tresses that trail down the shoulders and upper arms. The figure is covered in dark red lacquer with traces of gilding, and the hair is black.
16 in. (40.7 cm.) high

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Lot Essay

This elegant, slender-waisted figure is stylistically related to other bodhisattva figures of Yuan dynasty date. The necklace is very similar to that worn by a gilt-bronze Avalokitesvara, dated 13th-14th century, in the British Museum, illustrated by W. Zwalf (ed.) in Buddhism: Art and Faith, British Museum, 1985, p. 207, no. 298. The earrings, and the manner in which they hang from the large ears, as well as the depiction of the facial features, are similar to those of a lacquered wood figure of Maitreya, illustrated p. 207, no. 299, which is dated Yuan-early Ming, 14th-15th century. A qingbai figure of a bodhisattva, also dated 13th-14th century, illustrated in Fojiao diaosu Mingpin tulu (Images of Famous Buddhist Sculpture), Beijing, 1997, p. 451, no. 431, is adorned with similar earrings, and beaded jewelry, including a girdle of beaded garlands.

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