Lot 112
112
A RARE GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF MANJUSHRI
A RARE GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF MANJUSHRI
A RARE GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF MANJUSHRI
A RARE GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF MANJUSHRI
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THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
A RARE GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF MANJUSHRI

XUANDE INCISED SIX-CHARACTER PRESENTATION MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1426-1435)

Details
A RARE GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF MANJUSHRI
XUANDE INCISED SIX-CHARACTER PRESENTATION MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1426-1435)
The figure is cast seated in dhyanasana on a double-lotus base with four arms. The upper right hand is wielding a sword above his head and the lower left hand is holding a lotus stem. The body is richly covered with elaborate jewellery chains and a dhoti gathered in folds around the crossed legs. The face is shown with downcast eyes and the head is adorned with a floral diadem just in front of the high chignon. The lotus base is incised with the presentation mark reading Da Ming Xuande nianshi, ‘Bestowed in the Great Ming Xuande Period’.
9 3/8 in. (23.8 cm.) high

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Lot Essay

Although examples bearing a Yongle presentation mark of this four-armed emanation of the Manjusri are known, no other figure inscribed with a Xuande presentation mark appears to have been published. Compare with published Yongle-marked examples such as the figure in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Buddhism Art and Faith, 1985, no. 308; in the Berti Aschmann Foundation of Tibetan Art, illustrated in On the Path to Enlightenment, 1995, no. 67; in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, illustrated in Wisdom and Compassion, 1996, no. 30 and formerly in the Speelman Collection, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7 October 2006, lot 804.

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