A RARE DATED GILT-BRONZE VOTIVE FIGURE OF A BODHISATTVA

SUI DYNASTY (AD 581-618), DATED BY INSCRIPTION TO THE 9TH YEAR OF KAIHUANG (AD 589)

Details

A RARE DATED GILT-BRONZE VOTIVE FIGURE OF A BODHISATTVA
SUI DYNASTY (AD 581-618), DATED BY INSCRIPTION TO THE 9TH YEAR OF KAIHUANG (AD 589)
The slender figure is shown standing with right hand raised in abhaya mudra and left hand pendent, standing in front of the a flaming mandorla on top of the tall base with four splayed legs and with an inscription on three sides.
10 in. (25.4 cm.) high

Provenance

Private collection, Japan, acquired prior to 1930.

Exhibited

Nara, Museum Yamato, Special Exhibition of Chinese Gilt Bronze Statues of Buddhism from Japanese Collections, 2 October-8 November 1992, cat. no. 54.

Lot Essay

The inscription may be translated, `disciple of the Buddha, Wang Yuanchang, made this figure for his grandparents', and is dated 13th day, X month, 9th year of Kaihuang (AD 589).

Compare the very closely related figure from the collection of Fong Chow (1923-2012), sold at Christie’s New York, 21 March 2013, lot 1189. The Fong Chow example also had a dedicatory inscription, dated to AD 610, and bore the name of the patron, Cao Zijin, who commissioned the figure for his deceased mother. Such inscriptions, providing protection or beneficence to family members, were common from the Northern Wei dynasty through the Tang; see, for example, lot 807, which bears a similar inscription.

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