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Lot Essay
This figure can be compared to a very close example illustrated in Wang Jing Quan, Fo Xiang (Buddha), Shanghai Press Ltd. 2001, p.174. Both figures are standing in the same position, wear a comparable long dress with weaving sleeves, elaborated necklaces and crowns. Their serene faces look very much alike.
Similar face, crown, ribbons and necklace can be found also on a standing Guanyin in the Yunnan Province Museum, Kunming and illustrated in A. Lutz (ed.), Der Goldschartz der Drei Pagoden, Museum Rietberg, Zurich 1991, p.177, Kat Nr.51
The area of actual Yunnan province was dominated by the Kingdom of Nanzhao from 737 to 902 before the Dali Kingdom (937-1274). Through battles and political expansion, the Nanzhao Kingdom became close to the Chinese Dynasty of the Tang, and maintained relationships with Laos, Thailand, Burma and Northern China.
In 937, although the new rulers of Dali kingdom were coming from Mongolia, they remained influenced by the history and trends of the Province they just conquested.
Thus, the present lot shows clearly the various cultural and stylistical aspects of the Yunnan province. It can be related to Tang and Liao Buddhist figures such as the Bodhisattva from the Virginia Museum of Art illustrated in Hai-Wai Yi-Chen - Chinese Art in Overseas Collections - Buddhist Sculpture I, The National Museum, Taipei 1986, pl.145.
Similar face, crown, ribbons and necklace can be found also on a standing Guanyin in the Yunnan Province Museum, Kunming and illustrated in A. Lutz (ed.), Der Goldschartz der Drei Pagoden, Museum Rietberg, Zurich 1991, p.177, Kat Nr.51
The area of actual Yunnan province was dominated by the Kingdom of Nanzhao from 737 to 902 before the Dali Kingdom (937-1274). Through battles and political expansion, the Nanzhao Kingdom became close to the Chinese Dynasty of the Tang, and maintained relationships with Laos, Thailand, Burma and Northern China.
In 937, although the new rulers of Dali kingdom were coming from Mongolia, they remained influenced by the history and trends of the Province they just conquested.
Thus, the present lot shows clearly the various cultural and stylistical aspects of the Yunnan province. It can be related to Tang and Liao Buddhist figures such as the Bodhisattva from the Virginia Museum of Art illustrated in Hai-Wai Yi-Chen - Chinese Art in Overseas Collections - Buddhist Sculpture I, The National Museum, Taipei 1986, pl.145.