Lot 2048. A  gilt-bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara, Sui dynasty (AD 589-618); 3 5/8 in. (9.3 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 30,000 - USD 50,000. Price Realized USD 100,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014. 

The figure is shown standing in a slightly sway-backed posture on a hollow double-lotus base raised on an octagonal plinth with two pendent pierced tabs at the bottom, holding a willow branch in the right hand and in the left hand the end of a long ribbon that hangs from the tripartite crown. The figure also wears a long, trailing shawl, a sash-tied dhoti, a pendant-hung torque, and a long, looped beaded necklace, wood stand.

Provenance: Fong Chow (1923-2012) Collection, New York, acquired prior to 1990.

Note: Compare the similar gilt-bronze figure, also dated Sui dynasty, late 6th century, illustrated by D. Leidy and D. Strahan in Wisdom Embodied: Chinese Buddhist and Daoist Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, pp. 86-87, no. 12. The authors note that the willow branch, an attribute that first appeared in the late sixth century, helps to identify the figure as Avalokiteshvara. See, also, the similar figure illustrated by d'Argencé, ed., Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage Collection, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 1974, pp. 148-49, no. 67, which is dated Northern Qi or Sui dynasty.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 20 - 21 March 2014