Lot 88. A gilt-bronze Avalokitesvara seated on a lotus base, Qing Dynasty, Shunzhi Period, dated in accordance with 1660; overall height 107 cm., 42 in. Estimate 10,000,000 — 12,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 19,720,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's.

deftly cast and portrayed seated in vajraparyankasana, the serene face with a downcast gaze and a compassionate smile, flanked by long pendulous earlobes suspending elaborately decorated earrings, the hair neatly drawn up and crowned with a diadem securing a miniature effigy of Amitabha, covered by a cowl, with long tresses of knotted hair falling to the shoulders, wearing a shawl and dhoti with floral hems opening at the chest to reveal the beaded necklaces, the undergarment gathered at the waist with ribbons tied below the character fo ('Buddha'), the right hand elegantly holding an ungilded sprig of lotus flower, the left hand lowered with an open palm, all supported on a separate hemispheric pedestal densely decorated with overlapping layers of lotus petals, raised on a pillar wrapped by a pair of intertwining dragons emerging from a turbulent sea, surrounded by further animals including a horse, a pig, a fish, a crab, a conch and a clam, all enclosed within an octagonal balustered stand, one side incised with an inscription in regular script reading xinshi Bai'erheitu shiren Hei shi chengzao, Shunzhi shiqi nian er yue shijiu ri jidan li ('respectfully made by a devotee Bai'erheitu and his wife, maiden name Hei, and installed on the auspicious 19th day in the second month of the 17th year during the Shunzhi reign', corresponding to 1660).

Provenance: Christie's Hong Kong, 29th May 2007, lot 1576.

Note: This very rare and large figure of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara portrays the diety in a Sinicized form, with feminine features and a cowl draped over the tall chignon. This form began to emerge during the mid to late Ming dynasty, and is still the form of Avalokitesvara popular in East Asia today, where the deity is known as Guanyin. The bodhisattva holds a lotus, which is a symbol of purity, as the lotus grows in the depths of muddy waters, yet is able to emerge clean and pure. The lotus also serves as the bodhisattva's throne, bearing the deity aloft above the seas of samsara, the cycle of birth and rebirth, known in Chinese as the 'bitter sea' in which sentient beings trapped in the cycle are born and reborn, again and again. In the present lot, sentient beings are represented by the horse, pig and other marine creatures, whose only salvation is the mercy and compassion of Guanyin.

It is rare to find such a large dated example of this type. Stylistically the figure relates to gilt-bronze Buddhist figures usually dated from the mid to late Ming period, such as the smaller example illustrated in Recently Acquired Gilt Bronze Buddhist Images, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1996, no. 23 (fig. 1) and the example without its base, dated to the 16th / 17th century, sold at Christie's New York, 1st December 1994, lot 340. Another similar smaller example without its base, dated to the Ming dynasty, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29th September 1992, lot 900. The date on this piece indicates that the Ming dynasty style of Buddhist bronzes continued into the Qing dynasty, until Tibetan Buddhism came to the forefront during the Kangxi reign. Because of the continuation of the Ming style into the early Qing and the rarity of dated pieces, many similar gilt bronzes are dated stylistically to the Ming dynasty. For an example of a figure of similar size, see the massive parcel-gilt figure sold in our New York rooms, 28th May 1991, lot 148.

Fig.1. Gilt-bronze Figure of a Seated Avalokitesvara and Child, Ming Dynasty, 16th-17th Century National Palace Museum, Taipei © The Collection of National Palace Museum

The inscription and the large size of the present lot indicates that it was a private commission by a person of means and high standing. The name of the devotee who commissioned the image, Bai'erheitu, is not a Han Chinese name and is possibly the transliteration of a Mongolian name. The date in the inscription, the 19th day of the second month in the Lunar calendar, is traditionally celebrated as the commemoration of Guanyin's birth, which would have been a particularly auspicious day for the image of Guanyin to be consecrated.