LATE MING DYNASTY, 16TH-17TH CENTURY

This figure is based on earlier Yuan-dynasty representations of Shakyamuni as an ascetic, such as the two larger figures illustrated by Sherman E. Lee and Wai-Kam Ho in Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yüan Dynasty (1279-1368), The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968; no. 18, a gilt-bronze figure (17 3/8 in.) in The Cleveland Museum of Art, and no. 20, a lacquered wood figure (11¾ in.) in The Detroit Institute of Arts.