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THE PROPERTY OF A LADYELEGANCE PERSONIFIED: A SUI STANDING BODHISATTVARobert D. MowryAlan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art Emeritus, Harvard Art Museums, and Senior Consultant, Christie’sElegantly outfitted in the sumptuous trappings of an Indian prince of old, this compelling sculpture represents a bodhisattva,1 a benevolent, being who has attained enlightenment but who has selflessly postponed entry into nirvana in order to assist other sentient beings—in gaining enlightenment.2 Bodhisattvas are presented in the guise of an early Indian prince, a reference to Siddhartha Gautama’s worldly status before he became the Historical Buddha Sakyamuni, implying that as Siddhartha (traditionally, c. 563–c. 483BC), who was born a crown prince, became a Buddha ,so will bodhisattvas eventually become Buddhas, once all sentient beings have attained enlightenment. The elaborate,openwork halo underscores the bodhisattva’s divine status, just as the gilded surfaces of bodhisattva and halo alike not only make the sculpture appropriate for representing a deity but symbolize the light that, according to the sacred texts, or sutras , radiates from divine bodies.Meaning “enlightened being”, a bodhisattva is an altruistic being who is dedicated to assisting other sentient beings in achieving release from the samsara cycle of birth and rebirth through the attainment of enlightenment; bodhisattvas thus embody the Mahayana ideal of delivering all living creatures from suffering . Thanks to the enormous stores they have amassed, bodhisattvas are able to assist others through the transfer of meritorious karma to those in need, a concept known in Sanskrit as parinamanaand in Chinese as huixiang.Richly attired, bodhisattvas, who may be presented either standing or seated, are represented with long hair often arranged in a tall coiffure, or bun, on top of the head and with long strands of hair cascading over the shoulders. A crown sometimes surrounds the high coiffure as revealed by this sculpture. Bodhisattvas wear ornamental scarves, dhotis of rich silk brocade, and a wealth of jewellery that includes necklaces, armlets, bracelets, and anklets. Like Buddhas, bodhisattvas have distended earlobes, but, unlike the Buddhas, they wear earrings. Though bodhisattvas are generally shown barefoot, as in this sculpture, both early Indian and early Chinese images of bodhisattvas may be shown wearing sandals, often of plaited straw.3Though not positioned in prescribed mudras, bodhisattvas’ hands often appear in the anjalimudra—a gesture indicating veneration in which the hands are clasped before the chest, palms touching, as if in prayer. (A ritual hand gesture, a mudra—symbolizes a particular action, power, or attitude of a deity). In other instances, as in this sculpture, a bodhisattva may hold one hand in the abhayamudra, a gesture in which the hand is raised, palm outward, in the attitude of “do not fear”, and the other hand lowered, palm outward, in the varadamudra, or gift-giving gesture.Buddhist scriptures speak of countless bodhisattvas, a few of whom are named and coupled with specific virtues. Best known and most frequently worshiped is Avalokitesvara— Guanyin or Guanshiyin—who is revered as the Bodhisattva of Compassion. A translation of the Sanskrit name Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva’s name means “[The One Who] Perceives the Sounds of the World”, a reference to Guanyin’s ability to hear both the cries of the afflicted and the prayers of supplicants. Likely the second most worshiped bodhisattva is Maitreya, or Milein Chinese, the Buddha of the Future, who is shown bothas a bodhisattva, when residing in the Tushita Heaven, where all bodhisattvas currently reside, and also as a Buddha, when preaching in his Ketumati Paradise, after having descended to earth from the TushitaHeaven and achieved Buddhahood.Although they may be presented individually, bodhisattvas often are presented in pairs and associated with particular Buddhas, in which case the three are featured together in triad form. Thus, Bodhisattvas Avalokitesvara and Mahasthamaprapta, or Dashizhi, generally appear on either side of the Buddha Amitabha, while Bodhisattvas Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Transcendental Wisdom, and Samantabhadra—Wenshu and Puxian in Chinese—typically flank the Buddha Sakyamuni. In like manner Bodhisattvas Suryaprabha and Candraprabha —Riguang and Yueguang—stand to the left and right of the Medicine Buddha.Bodhisattvas often hold a lotus blossom, as this sculpture grasps a lotus bud in the lowered left hand, the lotus a universal symbol of Buddhism and an appropriate offering for presentation to a Buddha. When holding a long-stemmed lotus with the blossom itself appearing near the figure’s left shoulder, Avalokitesvara is known as Padmapani, or “He Who Holds the Lotus”. In other instances, Avalokitesvara might hold a fly whisk, an ancient Indian symbol representing the “sweeping away” of ignorance and mental afflictions. Avalokitesvara, Maitreya, and other bodhisattvas sometimes also hold a vase or small jar filled with holy water.4 In fact, the Lotus Sutra—known in Sanskrit as the Saddharma Pundarika Sutra and in Chinese as the Miaofa Lianhua Jing—which is the best known of all Buddhist scriptures, which has been popular among Chinese Buddhists since Sui (C.E. 581–618) andTang (C.E. 618–907) times, and which gives the fullest account of Avalokitesvara, states that there are thirty-three manifestations of Avalokitesvara, of which seven are female.Lacking both inscription and specific iconographic attribute, this bodhisattva’s identity remains elusive. Although it might represent Avalokitesvara, the sculpture probably depicts another, probably unnamed, bodhisattva. In fact, it is unlikely that a bodhisattva, unnamed and without an identifying attribute, would be depicted singly, a circumstance strongly suggesting that this sculpture originally was part of a triad, paired with a Buddha and another bodhisattva, or possibly was part of a group of Buddhist deities presented on a gilt bronze altar table, the assemblage perhaps also including monks, guardian figures, and apsaras, or celestial figures akin to angels, hovering above.5 Many bodhisattvas presented within a group of deities lack identifying iconographic attributes; instead, the crowns of such bodhisattvas, like this one, often bear a disc at the front representing a jewel, the jewel sometimes surrounded by a ring of pearls.6The tenons that project downward from the feet indicate that this sculpture, whether presented singly or as part of an ensemble, originally stood on a lotus pedestal. If the sculpture in fact was a stand-alone image, the pedestal might have been two-tiered, like the modern wooden pedestal which now accompanies it, with a larger, inverted lotus blossom comprising the lower tier, and a smaller, properly oriented blossom the upper tier. A closely related, gilt bronze sculpture representing Guanyin and now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (fig. 1), reveals the type of pedestal on whichthis bodhisattva might have stood if originally a standalone sculpture (accession number 12.161).7 On the other hand, if the sculpture originally figured as part of a group set on an altar table, its pedestal might have appeared as just described, though, alternatively, it might have included only a single, upright blossom, the most elaborate pedestal on the altar table being that reserved for the Buddha at the centre of the grouping. In fact, only well-known, clearly identified, and widely worshiped bodhisattvas weretraditionally presented as stand-alone images, making it likely that this bodhisattva originally was part of an altar group. Moreover, the figure’s slight S-curve posture and its subtly C-curved pose—resembling an opening parenthesis“(”—further suggests that this sculpture likely was part of an altar group and stood to one side of the central Buddha; if so, the hierarchically scaled and symmetrically arranged group would have included a corresponding bodhisattva on the other side of the Buddha, that bodhisattva claiming asubtle reverse-C-curve, like a closing parenthesis “)”, the two bodhisattvas thus gracefully framing the central Buddha in mirror-image fashion.This majestic sculpture dates to the Sui dynasty (C.E. 518–618) and thus to the late sixth or early seventh century, as indicated by the openwork halo, the three-point crown, the square, fleshy face with features concentrated toward its center, the open eyes gazing directly ahead, the ribbons descending from the coiffure to the shoulders, the necklace with large pendant jewel, the long strands of pearls that reach below the knees, and the heavy scarves that crisscross the body, lap over the arms, and then fall gracefully along the figure’s legs, terminating in so-called swallowtail folds at the feet. Beginning modestly during the Northern Qi dynasty (C.E. 550–577) and becoming more emphatic duringthe Sui in both stone and gilt bronze sculptures, openwork areas between face and dangling ribbons and between torso and arms imply the possibility of movement, imbuing the figures with life. This figure’s slight S-curve posture and subtle C-curve pose cause the long chain of pearls tofall asymmetrically, with the result that the floral emblem appears in front of the left leg rather than between the legs (as would the chain of a figure with weight equally distributed on both legs). This new, innovate approach breaks free from the symmetrical presentations of earlier eras and anticipates the new Tang style that soon would come into play. The influence of this new style is evident in the asymmetrical disposition of the chain of pearls worn by an early Tang Standing Guanyin in a Japanese private collection.8With its lapping tongues of flame, the magnificent openwork halo that accompanies this bodhisattva radiates energy as well as light, and its complexity stands as a foil to the serene bodhisattva whose head and shoulders it frames. The halos and mandorlas, or full-body halos, of earlier periods were solid, their embellishment of lotus blossoms and tongues of flame either incised or integrally cast. With the growingtaste for openwork, some Sui-dynasty reticulated halos feature symmetrically composed floral arabesques, such as that of the Standing Guanyin in the Tokyo National Museum or the closely related one in the MOA Museum in Atami, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan;9 others, like the present sculpture and the related one in the Metropolitan Museum(12.161), however, reveal a dynamism that foreshadows the naturalistic, lively styles that Tang sculptors will explore, develop, and master. Although they employ the lotus blossom and tongues of flame that are standard features of Buddhist halos, both the Metropolitan Museum sculpture and the present one add openwork “spokes” that radiate from the lotus blossom presented en face directly behind the bodhisattva’s head, that increase the implied energy, and that symbolize the Wheel of the Law, a reference to the Buddha’s teachings.The closest counterparts to this magnificent bodhisattva are the previously mentioned Standing Guanyin in the Metropolitan Museum (12.161)10 and the stylistically related Standing Bodhisattva in the Eisei Bunko Museum, Tokyo11 as well as the two virtually identical Standing Guanyin sculptures belonging to Harvard University, one in the Harvard Art Museums (accession number 1950.155) and the other in the Bernard Berenson collection at the Villa I Tatti, the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies in Florence, Italy. Lacking the slight S-curve posture and subtle C-curve pose, the MetropolitanMuseum bodhisattva is symmetrically composed, its weight equally distributed on both legs, and thus presumably is a little earlier than the present sculpture, but the openwork halo is very closely related. The two Harvard sculptures have solid halos with integrally cast surface embellishment, but their slight S-curve postures and subtle C-curve poses are stronger than those of either the present bodhisattva or theMetropolitan Museum one. Although it has lost its halo, the Eisei Bunko sculpture displays the gentle S-curve and the decidedly asymmetrically disposed chain of pearls that, like the present sculpture, foreshadows the new styles to be explored and developed in the Tang.All of these sculptures are masterworks of Buddhist sculpture and well represent the important artisticinnovations, even transformations, that were occurring during the Sui dynasty and that, because of their influence on Tang sculpture, would alter the entire course of later Chinese Buddhist sculpture.1. Note that pusa is a contraction of putisaduo, which is a transliteration of the Sanskrit term “bodhisattva”.2. For information on bodhisattvas, see: Robert E. Buswell, Jr. and Donald S. Lopez, Jr., The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press), 2013; A.L. Basham, “The Evolution of the Concept of the Bodhisattva” in Leslie S. Kawamura, The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhism (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Published by Wilfrid Laurier University for the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion), 1981; Leslie S. Kawamura, The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhism (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Published by Wilfrid Laurier University for the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion), 1981; Paul Williams,Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations, 2nd edition, in the Library of Religious Beliefs and Practices series (New York: Routledge),2009; Chun-fang Yu, Kuan-Yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitesvara (New York: Columbia University Press), 2001.3. See Angela Falco Howard et al., Chinese Sculpture in The Culture and Civilization of China series (New Haven: Yale University Press; and Beijing: Foreign Languages Press) 2006, p. 228.4. For a bodhisattva holding both a vase and a fly whisk, see Harvard Art Museums, accession number 1943.53.77.5. For a gilt bronze altarpiece including only a Buddha and two Bodhisattvas, see Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, accession no. F1914.21; for a gilt bronze altarpiece including numerous figures, see Rene-Yvon Lefebvre d’Argence et al., Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage Collection, pp. 192-193, no. 92, accession no. B60 B8+.6. See: Harvard Art Museums, accession numbers 1943.53.32, 1943.53.54, and 1943.53.77.7. See: Jin Shen, Haiwai ji Gang Tai cang lidai foxiang [Treasures of Buddhist Sculpture in Overseas Collections Including Hong Kong and Taiwan] (Taiyuan: Shanxi Renmin Chubanshe), 2007, p. 485, upper right corner. 8. See: Jin Shen, Haiwai ji Gang Tai cang lidai foxiang, p. 481. 9. See: Jin Shen, Haiwai ji Gang Tai cang lidai foxiang, pp. 477 and 475respectively. 10. See: Jin Shen, Haiwai ji Gang Tai cang lidai foxiang, p. 485. 11. See: Jin Shen, Haiwai ji Gang Tai cang lidai foxiang, p. 474.
A VERY RARE LARGE GILT-BRONZE STANDING FIGURE OF BODHISATTVA
SUI DYNASTY (581-618)
Details
A VERY RARE LARGE GILT-BRONZE STANDING FIGURE OF BODHISATTVA
SUI DYNASTY (581-618)
The slender figure is finely cast and shown standing in tribhanga with two pendent pierced tabs at the base, the right hand is raised in abhayamudra, and the left holding a branch. The facial features are finely modelled with downcast eyes and wide lips to give a contemplative expression, the hair swept-up in a topknot behind an elaborate headdress fastened with ribbons falling at both sides of the shoulders. The pendulous ears are set with spherical earrings, and the body adorned with a double-chained necklace notched at intervals. The detachable aureole is decorated with a lotus flower surrounded by beaded concentric circles and jagged flames with seven floating Amitabha seated on lotus thrones.
13 ¾ in. (35.1 cm.) overall height, wumu stand
SUI DYNASTY (581-618)
The slender figure is finely cast and shown standing in tribhanga with two pendent pierced tabs at the base, the right hand is raised in abhayamudra, and the left holding a branch. The facial features are finely modelled with downcast eyes and wide lips to give a contemplative expression, the hair swept-up in a topknot behind an elaborate headdress fastened with ribbons falling at both sides of the shoulders. The pendulous ears are set with spherical earrings, and the body adorned with a double-chained necklace notched at intervals. The detachable aureole is decorated with a lotus flower surrounded by beaded concentric circles and jagged flames with seven floating Amitabha seated on lotus thrones.
13 ¾ in. (35.1 cm.) overall height, wumu stand
Provenance
An Asian private collection, acquired in the mid-1990s
Literature
Jin Shen, Haiwai ji Gangtai cang lidai foxiang, Shanxi, 2007, p. 479
Exhibited
The Shoto Museum of Art, Chinese Treasures from the Chang Foundation, Shibuya, 2001, Catalogue, no. 87
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