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拍品专文
This exceptionally finely-cast gilt-bronze figure is reminiscent of the finest craftsmanship of the Ming dynasty, and may represent one of the Four Guardian Kings, sworn to protect Buddhism eternally. These figures were traditionally placed at the cardinal points of the compass in Buddhist temples to protect Buddhist deities. The exact identification of this figure is difficult, as it may have originally held an attribute which is now missing.
A larger (21 in. high) gilt-bronze standing figure, identified as Weituo, and dated to the Ming dynasty, 16th-17th century, was sold at Christie’s New York, 24 March 2011, lot 1632. (Fig. 1) This present figure is wearing similar chain-mail armor and helmet and has similar celestial carves and billowing ribbons. The figure differs from the present figure mainly in its hand gesture, which is in anjalimudra, a defining feature of Weituo.
Another gilt-bronze guardian figure of similar size (12 ½ in. high), dated to the 17th century, but shown seated, formerly in the Robert Hatfield Ellsworth Collection, and was in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, is illustrated by Denise Patry Leidy and Donna Strahan in Wisdom Embodied: Chinese and Daoist Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, p. 184, no. A63. (Fig. 2). See also a similar figure sold at Sotheby’s Paris, 11 June 2019, lot 29 (one of two) and another figure with hands in a similar gesture as the present figure sold at Sotheby’s New York, 17 March 2021, lot 253.
A larger (21 in. high) gilt-bronze standing figure, identified as Weituo, and dated to the Ming dynasty, 16th-17th century, was sold at Christie’s New York, 24 March 2011, lot 1632. (Fig. 1) This present figure is wearing similar chain-mail armor and helmet and has similar celestial carves and billowing ribbons. The figure differs from the present figure mainly in its hand gesture, which is in anjalimudra, a defining feature of Weituo.
Another gilt-bronze guardian figure of similar size (12 ½ in. high), dated to the 17th century, but shown seated, formerly in the Robert Hatfield Ellsworth Collection, and was in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, is illustrated by Denise Patry Leidy and Donna Strahan in Wisdom Embodied: Chinese and Daoist Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, p. 184, no. A63. (Fig. 2). See also a similar figure sold at Sotheby’s Paris, 11 June 2019, lot 29 (one of two) and another figure with hands in a similar gesture as the present figure sold at Sotheby’s New York, 17 March 2021, lot 253.