Lot 24. A gilt-bronze figure of Avalokitesvara, Tang dynasty (618-907); 7.6cm., 3in. Estimate 4,000 — 6,000 GBP. Lot sold 5,000 GBP (6,969 EUR). Photo courtesy Sotheby's.

cast seated in lalitasana, the right arm bent upward and holding a lotus flower, the left hand resting upon the knee, below a mandorla set with a Buddha in dhyanasana, all supported on a domed base raised on a four-legged plinth, wood stand and Japanese wood box; together with a gilt-bronze figure of a bodhisattva, Sui dynasty, wood stand and Japanese wood box.

Note: Compare similar bronze sculptures of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara seated in lalitasana, such as one sold in these rooms, 15th March 1973, lot 469; two larger examples illustrated in Saburo Matsubara, Chūgoku bukkyō chōkokushi ron [Historical discussion of Chinese Buddhist sculpture], Tokyo, 1995, vol. 3, pl. 877, nos a and b; another sold in these rooms, 9th June 1987, lot 21; and a further example sold in our New York rooms, 18th March 2008, lot 218. See also a smaller figure of this type included in the exhibition Buddhistische Plastik aus Japan und China, Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Cologne, 1972, pl. 100, no. 2.

Sotheby's. The Soul of Japanese Aesthetics – The Tsuneichi Inoue Collection, London, 13 may 2015