A MINIATURE GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF A GUARDIAN

TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)

Details

A MINIATURE GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF A GUARDIAN
TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)
The muscular figure is shown with scowling expression and standing in tribangha on a layered rock-form base, his raised right hand grasping his swirling scarf.
2 5/8 in. (6.7 cm.) high, wood stand

Provenance

Private collection, Japan, acquired prior to 1930.

Lot Essay

Small gilt-bronze warrior figures, such as the current example, were made as subsidiary figures for gilt-bronze Buddhist altars. A Tang dynasty altar of this type in the Seattle Art Museum is illustrated by H. Munsterberg, Chinese Buddhist Bronzes, Vermont/Tokyo, 1967, pl. 119, where two small gilt-bronze guardian figures can be seen standing at the upper corners of the stand. The guardian on the proper right side of the stand is very similar to the current figure.

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