Lot 196. A rare pair of polychrome stucco fresco fragments of bodhisattvas, Five dynasties-Song dynasty (907-1279). Height 35 3/4  in., 90.8 cm; Width 17 1/8  in., 43.5 cm. Estimate: 60,000 — 80,000 USD. Lot sold 275,000 USD. © Sotheby's.

each of rectangular form, the first elegantly painted with an attendant bodhisattva standing on lotus blossoms and with a circular halo framing the head, holding a lotus sprig with a long leafy stem, the deity wearing a loose dhoti and a long flowing scarf, further adorned with beaded necklaces and elaborate headdresses; the second painted with a similarly depicted bodhisattva with the right hand holding a tray possibly supporting a censer and the left hand in karana mudra, framed (2).

Provenance: Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).

Note: These rare wall paintings are in the lineage of Buddhist imagery best known from wall paintings and silks of the Tang dynasty (618-907) preserved in the Dunhuang cave temples of Gansu province. With the exaggerated chubby cheeks and chin, graceful curves of the exposed belly above waistline, fluttering ribbons wrapping the body and an elaborate jeweled coiffure, the present paintings carry characteristic touches of Buddhist figural paintings attributed to the eighth to ninth centuries. See a late Tang painting of a bodhisattva of more elaborate style, discovered in the Mogao caves, Dunhuang, from the collection of Sir Marc Aurel Stein, and now preserved in the British Museum, London, included in the Museum’s exhibition Caves of the Thousand Buddhas. Chinese Art from the Silk Route, 1990, cat. no. 14. 

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 12 sept. 2018, 10:30 AM