Lot 37. A rare large gilt-bronze figure of a boddhisattva, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 23.5cm (9 1/4in) high. (2). Sold for €317,900 inc. premium. Photo Bonhams.

Finely and heavily cast seated in lalitasana, the right leg stretched out over the base, the left leg drawn in, with her right arm held in varadamudra and her left arm in vitarkamudra, wearing a long diaphanous dhoti elaborately decorated with finely incised scattered floral roundels and with chased and engraved lotus scroll borders, flowing over his legs and gathered in folds around his feet, the chest bare and covered with an ornate necklaces with beaded festoons, a similarly beaded belt around his waist, the face rendered with a benevolent expression accentuated with slightly downcast eyes and a gentle smile, framed by a pair of pendulous earlobes, the hair drawn up in an ornately braided high chignon, seated on a separate, heavily cast lotus pedestal made of rows of overlapping lotus petals, the base sealed with a gilt-metal plate incised with a double vajra.

Provenance: Acquired by the parents of the present owners, and thence by descent.

Note: This exquisitely cast small gilt-bronze figure of a bodhisattva, possibly representing a Tara, belongs to an important group of bronzes of similarly refined quality and jewel-like size that were made with separate lotus bases, with bands of raised lotus flowers skillfully worked and chased in repoussé. Three gilt-bronze figures of different iconography, two of almost identical size, one slightly larger, and very similar style and quality in the Palace Museum collection, Beijing, are placed on identical, separately-cast stands with layered lotus petals surrounding the base, see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum – 60 - Buddhist Statues of Tibet, Hong Kong, 2002, pp.239-41, no.228 (Amitayus), no.229 (Vajradhara) and no.230 (Green Tara) (Figs. 1-3). We can therefore assume that these figures were all made in the same workshop associated with the palace, and probably made for the Qing court.

Several other examples of figures on similar bases have been sold at auction, compare, for example, a figure of Avalokiteshvara sold in Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2012, lot 2265, and a second figure of Amitayus, sold Christie's Hong Kong, 30 May 2018, lot 2867, and a third figure (possibly with a matched stand) sold Christie's New York, 13 September 2019, lot 857. Yet another figure is recorded on Himalayan Art Resources (himalayanart.org) as item no.8084, previously sold in Sotheby's New York, 16 and 17 March 1988, lot 196.

The present figure with its slightly stiff posture, attenuated features, the drapery, tall braided chignon and the shape of the base shares stylistic characteristics with gilt-bronze sculpture from areas of Inner Mongolia outside the Qing capital in Beijing, especially Buddhist figures created in or around the thriving Buddhist center of Dolonnor. During the Qing period, the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors patronized Dolonnor as a center of Buddhist learning and artistic production. The Mongolian master, lama and artist Zanabazar assimilated his khanate into the Qing empire at Dolonnor in 1691. The Dolonnor monastery and its workshops workshops produced both solid cast, hollow cast and repoussé figures and objects for Mongolian and Tibetan patrons as well as for the Qing court. Compare, for example, a gilt-bronze figure of Tara attributed to Dolonnor, dated to the 18th century, sold at Christie's New York, 16 September 2014, lot 261, and another figure of Tara, attributed to Dolonnor, which was sold at Christie's New York, 20 March 2019, lot 674.