LATE MING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY

These figures are remarkable for their powerful and expressive modeling and dynamic sense of movement. Similar spirited movement can be seen in a slightly larger bronze figure of Kui Xing also of Ming date, 16th-17th century, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated by D. P. Leidy and D. Strahan, Wisdom Embodied: Chinese Buddhist and Daoist Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, pp. 160-61, no. 42. Like the present figures, the figure of Kui Xing is strongly modeled and shown wearing loose flowing clothing and a long fluttering scarf.