Lot 2888
2888
A VERY RARE LARGE GILT-LACQUERED BRONZE SEATED FIGURE OF GUANYIN
A VERY RARE LARGE GILT-LACQUERED BRONZE SEATED FIGURE OF GUANYIN
A VERY RARE LARGE GILT-LACQUERED BRONZE SEATED FIGURE OF GUANYIN
A VERY RARE LARGE GILT-LACQUERED BRONZE SEATED FIGURE OF GUANYIN
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A VERY RARE LARGE GILT-LACQUERED BRONZE SEATED FIGURE OF GUANYIN

YUAN-EARLY MING DYNASTY, 14TH CENTURY

Details
A VERY RARE LARGE GILT-LACQUERED BRONZE SEATED FIGURE OF GUANYIN
YUAN-EARLY MING DYNASTY, 14TH CENTURY
The deity is modelled seated in the posture of royal ease, with its hand grasping a seperately cast bronze lotus spray. The round face with eyes downcast and framed with pendulous ears, the hair swept- up in a topknot underneath the cowl, wearing a loosely fitted robe gathered below the bare chest adorned with fine jewellery chains radiating from a central medallion depicting a fierce dragon.
Figure: 29 in. (73.5 cm.) high;
33 3⁄8 in. (84.7 cm.) high overall with lacquered wood stand
Provenance
A Taiwanese private collection, acquired in Hong Kong circa 1980s (by repute)

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Lot Essay

The current bronze Guanyin is cast in an unusual style with very high forehead, slanted eyes and thin pursed lips. The dragon pendant around the neck is also an attribute that is rarely seen on Guanyin figures. There is a gilt-bronze figure of Marichi in the Hall of Gilt-Bronze Sculptures in the Dinosaur Museum in Fenglu, Yunnan, which has very similar facial features and also wears a similar dragon pendant. Marichi was adapted from Buddhism to the Daoist pantheon as the goddess Doumu, and
is here cast in the Daoist style wearing a Chinese robe and chainmail. Guanyin also regularly appears in Daoist temples, and it is likely that the current Guanyin was commissioned around the same time in Yunnan area to be displayed in a Daoist Temple, hence the unusual attributes.

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