Lot 137. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. An archaic bronze 'figural' lamp stand, Eastern Zhou dynasty, Warring States period (475-221 BC). Height 8.3 cm, metal stand (2). Lot Sold 120,650 USD (Estimate 30,000 - 50,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: J.J. Lally & Co., New York, December 2000.

Note:The present figure depicts a standing warrior, his outstretched arms supporting a cylindrical socket designed to hold an oil lamp. Clad in intricately scaled armor and a belted tunic, the warrior’s stern countenance and furrowed brow convey an aura of vigilance, reflecting the valorized martial ethos of the period.

The Warring States period was characterized by intense conflict among rival states, fostering advancements in military technology and the glorification of warrior culture. Bronze, traditionally associated with ritual and power, became increasingly utilized for both practical and decorative purposes, including lighting. This warrior lamp stand exemplifies this transition, merging the symbolic authority of bronze with the functional necessity of illumination. The emergence of true functional lighting apparatus during this era marked a significant technological and aesthetic advancement, driven by innovations in metallurgy and evolving cultural practices.

The earliest textual evidence of ceremonial lighting culture in China is found in Chuci·Zhaoxun (Songs of Chu, late 3rd century BCE), which states: 'Orchid-scented oils brighten the candles; ornate lamps glimmer inlaid with gold' (蘭膏明燭，華鐙錯些). This lamp stand embodies such sophistication, transforming a utilitarian object into a vehicle of artistic expression.

Compare a closely related 'warrior' lamp, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 18th October 2023, lot 547; see also a slightly larger lamp stand, previously in the collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung, sold in the same rooms, 8th October 2022, lot 15; an inlay-decorated standing figure wearing a headdress and a long robe, but of a more slender build, is in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (accession no. 2003.140.3).

Lot 138. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. A bronze tuning fork, Warring States period (475-221 BC). Height 7.9 cm, metal stand (2). Lot Sold 7,620 USD (Estimate 6,000 - 8,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Collection of Hendrik Robert van Heekeren (1902-1974).

Blitz Antiques, Amsterdam (New York Asian Art Fair), March 2000

Lot 139. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. A bronze taotie mask, Warring States period (475-221 BC). Height 15.2 cm, metal stand (2). Lot Sold 8,255 USD (Estimate 4,000 - 6,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Blitz Antiques, Amsterdam (New York Asian Art Fair), March 2004.

Lot 140. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. A rare bronze 'bird' knife scabbard, Warring States period-Han dynasty (475 BC-220 AD). Lenght 23.9 cm, metal stand (2). Lot Sold 4,445 USD (Estimate 5,000 - 7,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Christie’s New York, 26th March 2003, lot 162.

Lot 141. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. A rare bronze 'duck' finial, Eastern Zhou dynasty, Warring States period (475-221 BC). Lenght 15.5 cm, metal stand (2). Lot Sold 50,800 USD (Estimate 20,000 - 30,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: J.J. Lally & Co., New York, 1999.

Lot 142. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. A rare and important gold and silver-inlaid bronze disc, Late Warring States period / Western Han dynasty. Diameter 16.8 cm. Lot Sold 107,950 USD (Estimate 50,000 - 70,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Collection of Robert Woods (1875-1962) and Mildred Barnes (1879-1969) Bliss.
C.T. Loo, New York, 13th April 1959.
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).
Christie's New York, 21st September 2000, lot 178.

Literature: Osvald Sirén, Histoire des Arts Anciens de la Chine. Volume II: L'époque Han et les Six Dynasties [History of the Ancient Art of China: Vol II: The Han Periods and the Six Dynasties], Paris and Brussel, 1929, pl. 46A.
Umehara Sueji, Shina Kodo Seika / Selected Relics of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Collections in Europe and America, vol. I, Osaka, 1933, pl. 56.
Osvald Sirén, Kinas Konst under tre Årtusenden [Chinese Art through Three Millennia], Stockholm, 1942, fig. 125.

Exhibited: Chinesische Kunst [Chinese Art], Preussische Akademie de Künste, Berlin, 1929, cat. no. 29.
International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935-36, cat. no. 385.

The present lot illustrated in Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935-36, cat. no. 385.

Note: Adorned with a swirling wave of dragons and wings and clouds, the present disc is an exceptionally rare and magnificent example of inlaid bronze from the height of its production. With careful consideration for depth and texture, the ancient artisan has rendered the disc with extraordinary precision, selectively employing gold and silver inlay in bold fluid strokes across the surface of the piece, producing a dynamic design that seems to roll around the entire perimeter.

As the kings of Zhou began to lose their grip on power with advancements in agricultural and military technology around the third century BCE, feudal states and their leaders began to grow ever wealthier and more powerful. Turning to craftsmanship and artistic masterpieces as a manifestation of this power, leaders of the Warring States (475-221 BCE) and ensuing Qin and Han (206 BCE-220 CE) dynasties commissioned the production of increasingly intricate and spellbinding bronze vessels for use in official rites and burial ceremonies. Sophisticated bronzes, delicately inlaid in gold and silver, have now been recovered from tombs in Jincun, the site of the Eastern Capital at Luoyang, as well as from burial sites unrelated to the Zhou kings, including the tombs of the ruling nobles of Wei in Huixian, Henan, the tombs of the Zhongshan kings at Pingcheng, Henan, and the tombs of the Chu state in Hubei province. These vessels – the present disc certainly included – possess a creative flair, opulent grandeur, and mastery of inlay arguably never surpassed in the following millennia. Compare a stylistically related and similarly unique sword hilt from this lavish period, sold in our Hong Kong rooms for well over five million Hong Kong dollars, 9th October 2022, lot 3612.

The present disc has continued to captivate, puzzle and inspire scholars and collectors for over a century. Beginning their collecting journeys in Paris in 1912, Robert Woods Bliss and his wife Wildred Barnes Bliss soon became enamored with Chinese art. Purchasing their home, Dumbarton Oaks, on the outskirts of Washington D.C., the couple continued to expand their collection with pieces like the present, into one of the most extensive and celebrated of its kind. Loaning the present disc to both the exhibition of Chinesiche Kunst at the Berlin Akademie der Künste in 1929 and the world-renowned International Exhibition of Chinese Art at the Royal Academy of Arts, London in 1935-6, the Bliss family revealed this masterpiece to a global audience and before long, caught the attention of the world’s leading sinologists. From Umehara Sueji (1893-1983) to Osvald Sirén (1879-1966), prominent art historians across the world have illustrated and debated the dating and purpose of this remarkable piece. While refusing to make any final judgment, opting instead for the nebulous designation of ‘vessel rim’ or ‘fragment,’ each scholar nonetheless agreed that this piece, glowing in a vibrant palate of patinated black, cuprite blue, gold and silver, was a masterpiece of its time– a rare and exceptional treasure. Most recently treasured by the renowned collector Stephen Junkunc, III and, finally, in the care of Jane and Leopold Swergold, this piece’s beauty and rarity is matched only by its illustrious provenance.

While the initial purpose of this disc is likely now lost forever to the sands of time, its single-sided decoration, rough outer edge and grand geometric design all support the theory that it once acted as a rim to an organic, probably lacquered, vessel that has long since degraded. Compare a related gold-inlaid rim excavated in 1988 from the tomb of the King of Nanyue (r. 137-124 BCE) in modern day Guangzhou, illustrated in Xi Han Nanyue Wang mu [Tomb of the Western Han King of Nanyue], vol. II, Beijing, 1991, pl. CXXVI; and two related gold-and-silver-inlaid vessel mounts formerly on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and now preserved in the Miho Museum, Koka, in Collection of the Miho Museum: The South Wing, Koka, 1997, pl. 99. These metal mounts appear to have been purpose-made for accompanying lacquer vessels, decorated with identical motifs in black, red and gold. Compare a cylindrical lacquer vessel preserved with matching silver-inlaid fittings in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated in Hai-Wai Yi-Chen. Chinese Art in Overseas Collections: Lacquerware, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1987, pl. 8; and the almost perfectly preserved lacquer wares excavated from the lavishly decorated Han tombs at Mawangdui, Changsha, decorated with very closely related motifs of swirling dragons and clouds – see Joanna Waley-Cohen, trans., ‘The Lacquers of the Mawangdui Tomb’, Oriental Ceramic Society Translations, no. 11, Hong Kong, 1984.

While almost certainly not its initial purpose, the present lot’s appearance as a grand and solitary disc brings with it new-found associations, deep-rooted in the Chinese artistic tradition. Bringing to mind the jade bi discs of antiquity, long treasured by neolithic shamans, Qing emperors and contemporary collectors alike, the present disc whispers of antiquity while its bright and vibrant decoration still whirls with life.

Lot 143. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. An archaic bronze halberd (Ge), Eastern Zhou dynasty, Warring States period. Lenght 14.9 cm, stand (2). Lot Sold 19,050 USD (Estimate 15,000 - 25,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Collection of Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt (1903-1998).
Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 31st March 2000, lot 143.
J.J. Lally & Co., December 2000.

Lot 144. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. A silver-inlaid bronze ferrule, Warring States period. Lenght 11.7 cm. Lot Sold 12,700  USD (Estimate 15,000 - 20,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Acquired in December 1993.
Offered at Christie's Hong Kong, 29th October 2001, lot 758.
Christie's New York, 26th March 2003, lot 158.

Exhibited: Chugoku sengoku jidai no bijutsu [The Art of the Warring States Period], Osaka Municipal Museum of Fine Art, Osaka, 1991, cat. no. 123.

Lot 145. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. A very rare gilt-bronze 'dragon head' handle, Eastern Han Dynasty. Lenght 13.3 cm, stand (2). Lot Sold 317,500 USD (Estimate 150,000 - 250,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Collection of Adolphe Stoclet (1871-1949), by 1922.
Collection of Madame Féron-Stoclet.
Eskenazi, Ltd., London, March 2004.

Literature : Henri d'Ardenne de Tizac, Animals in Chinese Art, New York, 1922, pl. XXVIA (attributed to Tang dynasty).
Umehara Sueji, Shina kodo Seikwa / Selected Relics of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Collections in Europe and America, Osaka, 1933, pt. III, vol. I, pl. 64b.
Herman Floris Eduard Visser, Asiatic Art in Private Collections of Holland and Belgium, Amsterdam, 1948, no. 159, pl. 71 (attributed to possibly Six Dynasties period).
Georges Salles and Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt, Collection Adolphe Stoclet, Brussels, 1956, pp 386-389 (attributed to Six Dynasties period).

Exhibited: Exhibition of Chinese Art, Municipal Museum, Amsterdam, 1925, cat. no. 112.
International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935-36, cat. no. 541.

FROM THE MOUTH OF THE DRAGON: A RARE MASTERPIECE FROM THE AGE OF BRONZE

Peering out with grandeur and might, this intricately cast dragon’s head is a rare and spectacular example of Han dynasty metal work of unparalleled provenance. With each scale, whisker, tooth and horn delicately rendered with life-like precision and accentuated with liberal gilding, the present head is as much a piece of art as it is a symbol – a lasting homage to the mastery of an unknown ancient craftsman and the power of his mighty patron.

Since the earliest recorded sources, dragons have played a crucial role in Chinese cosmology. Seen as harbingers of good tidings, life-giving rains and benevolent rulers, the piercing eyes, cloudlike mane and fierce jaws of the dragon have long been associated with power and majesty. Though the present head is rightly considered a work of art in its own right, the piece was likely once produced as a handle to a larger organic vessel, long since degraded in antiquity. Fitting snugly in the hand, this elegant fitting is remarkably ergonomic and invites the viewer to hold it; capturing one’s senses with its regal appearance and tactile exterior.

Fewer than ten dragon handles of this rare type and period appear to be known, produced in a variety of related designs and preserved in important collections across the world: one excavated from a Han dynasty tomb no. 2 at Ganquan in Hanjiang, Jiangsu province, illustrated in Wenwu, 1981, no. 11, p. 6, fig. 15 and pl. 2:5; a second from the Eastern Han tomb of Xianyu Huang (dated to 165 CE) in Wuqing county, Hebei province, illustrated in Kaogu Xuebao, 1982, no. 3, pl. 19:2; a third, excavated from a brick factory in Xipang village, Koutian township, Yanshi, preserved in the Luoyang Museum, illustrated on the Museum’s website; a fourth from the collection of Charlotte C. and John C. Weber, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (accession no. 1992.165.25) (Fig. 1); a fifth from the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung, now in the British Museum, London (accession no. 2022,3034.27); a sixth, in the Sakamoto Collection at the Nara National Museum (accession. no. 1317-377); a seventh, included in Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1990, cat. no. 117, and later sold at Christie’s New York, 16th September 2010, lot 917; an eighth from the H. K. Burnet Collection, sold in our London rooms, 4th April 1941, lot 382 and more recently at Woolley & Wallis, 24th May 2023, lot 418; and a ninth from the Worch Collection, illustrated alongside the present, in Umehara Sueji, Shina kodo Seikwa / Selected Relics of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Collections in Europe and America, Osaka, 1933, pt. III, vol. I, pl. 64a.

Fig. 1. A gilt-bronze ‘dragon head’ handle, Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). Gilt bronze with traces of red pigment, H. 6.4 cm; W. 5.1 cm; L. 14.6 cm. Charlotte C. and John C. Weber Collection, Gift of Charlotte C. and John C. Weber, 1992.165.25 © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

This remarkable handle was formerly in the treasured possession of Belgian engineer and financier Baron Adolphe Stoclet (1871-1949) and his wife, Suzanne (1874-1960), housed in their Art Nouveau masterpiece, Palais Stoclet, in Brussels. Designed by Joseph Hoffmann (1850-1956), one of the era's leading artists, the home was a Gesamtkunstwerk (‘total work of art’) of sorts and housed the Stoclets' extensive and wide-ranging collection, which also included murals painted by Gustav Klimt. Two other celebrated bronze animals from this period were also once preserved in the Stoclets’ collection and speak to their aesthetic vision and unmatched eye: the first, a widely published Han dynasty fitting in the form of a bixie (chimera), most recently sold from the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung in our Hong Kong rooms, 10th October 2022, lot 1; and the second – perhaps the most famous piece in the entire collection – a large bronze winged dragon figure, now one of the highlights in the collection of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, similarly included in the Royal Academy of Arts exhibition of 1935-6, cat. no. 489.

Lot 148. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. An archaic bronze ‘mythical beasts' censer and cover (Boshanlu), Western Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 9). Height 27.6 cm, stand (2). Lot Sold 35,560 USD (Estimate 20,000 - 30,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Blitz Antiques, Amsterdam (International Asian Art Fair, New York), 14th April 1999

Exhibited:: Figures and Landscapes in Asian Art, Yale University, New Haven, 1999

Note : The boshanlu (Universal Mountain censer) is one of the most iconic and visually striking forms within the Han dynasty artistic canon. These mountain-shaped censers, believed to have developed during the Western Han dynasty, held both practical and symbolic significance. Likely introduced to China from Western and Central Asia during the reign of Emperor Han Wudi (141–87 BCE), they quickly became associated with an idealized foreign realm and the mythical mountains believed to be the dwelling places of Immortals.

The design of boshanlu reflects the Daoist conception of sacred peaks where immortals live in eternal harmony. Their form was not merely decorative but functional: the perforated mountain motif allowed smoke from burning incense to waft through the openings, imitating mist rolling over lofty landscapes, thus enhancing the evocative imagery of a mystical, otherworldly realm. Compare with a similar boshanlu, preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing (accession no. 新00126175).

Lot 150. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. A small bronze circular mirror, Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). Diameter 9.2 cm, stand (2). Lot Sold 762 USD (Estimate 1,500- 2,500 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Lot 154. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. A bronze stele of Amitabha Buddha, Northern Wei dynasty (386-535)​​​​​​​. Height 10.8 cm, stand (2). Lot Sold 12,700 USD (Estimate 5,000- 7,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: J.J. Lally & Co., New York, March 2006.

Lot 153. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. A bronze 'lion' fitting, Eastern Wei dynasty (534-550)​​​​​​​. Lenght 7.4 cm. Lot Sold 27,940 USD (Estimate 2,000- 4,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: J.J. Lally & Co., New York, Jumy 2000.

Lot 155. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. A magnificent inscribed gilt-bronze votive figure of Padmapani, Eastern Wei dynasty, dated wuding 2nd year, corresponding to 544​​​​​​​. Height 16.8 cm. Lot Sold 381,000 USD (Estimate 300,000- 500,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

the splayed right side and reverse of the plinth with an inscription dated to the twentieth day of the eleventh month of the second year of Wuding (in accordance with 544), lacquer stand, Japanese wood box (5)

Provenance: Collection of Sato Gengen (1888-1963).

Collection of Sakamoto Gorō (1923-2016).

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 5th October 2016, lot 3212.

Literature: Beatrice Chan, 'Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston', Arts of Asia, January/February 2018, pp 58-65.

Exhibited: Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2017-2018. 

Note: Standing firmly yet elegantly before a flaming mandalora, this remarkable figure depicts Padmapani, the lotus-bearing manifestation of the bodhisattva Avalokitshvara (known in Chinese as Guanyin), as the embodiment of regal splendor and tranquility. Adorning the base of the stele, below an intricate carving of the Buddha, lies an inscription dating the piece to the Eastern Wei dynasty. Following the disintegration of the Northern Wei around 534 CE, the Eastern Wei took up the mantle of governing northern China. Although sculpture from this period retained some of the Indian influences of its predecessor, Eastern Wei figures like the present Padmapani have a number of more sinicized features. While the Gandharan-inspired works of the Northern Wei generally feature more rigid draping robes, curvilinear contours, slim bodies, and gently tilted heads, the current figure stands tall and straight.

Similar depictions of Padmapani from this period are rare. Compare another gilt-bronze figure of Padmapani, dated to 543, in the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 117; and a related Eastern Wei gilt-bronze figure of Maitreya, dated to 536, formerly in the collection of Duanfang (1861-1911) and now in the collection of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia (accession no. C355.1), illustrated by Osvald Sirén, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, New York, 1925, pl. 158. Other similar gilt-bronze figures of Padmapani dated to the Northern Wei can also be found in the Kuboso Memorial Museum of Arts, Izumi, Japan, illustrated in Rikuchou Jidai No Kondoubutsu [Gilt-bronze Buddhist figures from the Six Dynasties], Izumi, 1991, cat. no. 48; preserved in the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, from the collection of Grenville L. Winthrop (accession no. 1943.53.81); and in various important collections of early Buddhist bronzes in Saburō Matsubara, Chūgoku Bukkyō chōkoku shiron [History of Chinese Buddhist sculpture], vol. I, Tokyo, 1995, pls 73, 74, and 86-88.

Lot 160. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. A rare gilt-bronze seated figure of Shakyamuni Buddha, Northern Qi – Sui dynasty (550-618). Height 21.6 cm, stand (2). Lot Sold 152,400 USD (Estimate 120,000- 180,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Yamanaka & Co., New York.
Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, 27th May 1944, lot 724.
Collection of Rafi Y. Mottahedeh (1901-1978).
Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, 4th November 1978, lot 211.
Connecticut Private Collection.
Sotheby's New York, 23rd March 2011, lot 691..

Literature: Leopold Swergold, Thoughts on Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes, Aventura, 2014, pl. 26.

Note: This extremely rare figure depicts Avalokiteshvara standing in tribhanga on a lotus platform. Of the six arms, one pair holds the hands in anjali mudra in front of the chest, while the others respectively hold a pierced star-shaped symbol of the sun and the moon, a kundika, a rosary, and a lotus stem with an attendant bud. This dynamic eleven-headed form is derived from the Indian tradition, in which deities were able to manifest themselves in as many as thirty-three different forms to adapt to an ever changing world and help those in need. The present eleven-headed manifestation reflects the bodhisattva’s ability to detect need in every direction, reminding devotees of the mercy and compassion of Avalokiteshvara in their time of distress.

As is typical of the finest Tang dynasty examples, this figure sways sensuously at the waist combining qualities of a prince and an ascetic, grandly adorned with a crown and jewels yet humbly dressed in a yogi's antelope skin with prayer beads in his hand. Representing the range of Avalokiteshvara's forms and aspects, each of the present eleven heads are finely articulated and surmounted by a head of the Buddha Amitabha, with whom he is closely associated in the Buddhist tradition.

This grand and complex representation of Avalokiteshvara is extremely rare. Compare a related example of this type from Western Tibet, rendered with eleven heads and six arms in copper alloy, now preserved in the Cleveland Museum of Art (accession no. 1975.101), included in Marylin Rhie, Robert Thurman, and John Bigelow Taylor, Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, New York, 1996, cat. no. 127; as well as a related eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara from the Tang dynasty from the collection of Sakamoto Gorō, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 5th October 2016, lot 3218; and another in a private collection, illustrated in Saburō Matsubara, Chūgoku Bukkyō chōkoku shiron [History of Chinese Buddhist sculpture], Tokyo, 1995, vol. III, pl. 701c.

Lot 152. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. A small gilt-bronze figure of a dvarapala, Tang dynasty (618-907). Height 7.3 cm. Lot Sold 5,080 USD (Estimate 3,000- 5,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Vallin Galleries, Connecticut

Literature: Beatrice Chan, 'Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston', Arts of Asia, January/February 2018, pp 58-65.

Lot 161. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. An extremely rare gilt-bronze figure of eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara, Tang dynasty (618-907). Height 7.3 cm. Lot Sold 5,080 USD (Estimate 3,000- 5,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Vallin Galleries, Connecticut

Literature: Beatrice Chan, 'Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston', Arts of Asia, January/February 2018, pp 58-65.

Exhibitd: Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2017-2018. 

Note: This extremely rare figure depicts Avalokiteshvara standing in tribhanga on a lotus platform. Of the six arms, one pair holds the hands in anjali mudra in front of the chest, while the others respectively hold a pierced star-shaped symbol of the sun and the moon, a kundika, a rosary, and a lotus stem with an attendant bud. This dynamic eleven-headed form is derived from the Indian tradition, in which deities were able to manifest themselves in as many as thirty-three different forms to adapt to an ever changing world and help those in need. The present eleven-headed manifestation reflects the bodhisattva’s ability to detect need in every direction, reminding devotees of the mercy and compassion of Avalokiteshvara in their time of distress.

As is typical of the finest Tang dynasty examples, this figure sways sensuously at the waist combining qualities of a prince and an ascetic, grandly adorned with a crown and jewels yet humbly dressed in a yogi's antelope skin with prayer beads in his hand. Representing the range of Avalokiteshvara's forms and aspects, each of the present eleven heads are finely articulated and surmounted by a head of the Buddha Amitabha, with whom he is closely associated in the Buddhist tradition.

This grand and complex representation of Avalokiteshvara is extremely rare. Compare a related example of this type from Western Tibet, rendered with eleven heads and six arms in copper alloy, now preserved in the Cleveland Museum of Art (accession no. 1975.101), included in Marylin Rhie, Robert Thurman, and John Bigelow Taylor, Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, New York, 1996, cat. no. 127; as well as a related eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara from the Tang dynasty from the collection of Sakamoto Gorō, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 5th October 2016, lot 3218; and another in a private collection, illustrated in Saburō Matsubara, Chūgoku Bukkyō chōkoku shiron [History of Chinese Buddhist sculpture], Tokyo, 1995, vol. III, pl. 701c.

Lot 166. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. A gilt-bronze figure of a bodhisattva, Tang dynasty (618-907). Height 18.1 cm. Lot Sold 76,200 USD (Estimate 80,000-120,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Sotheby's New York, 22nd September 2004, lot 7.

Literature: Leopold Swergold, Thoughts on Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes, Aventura, 2014, cat. no. 20.

Exhibited: ​​​​​​​Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2017-2018.

Note: Stood nobly on a waisted lotus pedestal and stepped hexagonal base, this grand figure is wrapped in a long dhoti and fluttering scarves. With a kundika in the left hand, and a willow branch in the right, the figure is easily identified as the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, worshipped in China by the name of Guanyin. With the contours of their slender body well defined in a contrapposto silhouette and their clothes flowing gently with a ‘wet-drapery effect,’ this grand figure is characteristic of Buddhist sculpture at the very peak of production in the Tang dynasty. Bending at the knees, hips and neck in the regal tribhanga pose (literally the ‘posture of three’), the deity’s curving torso achieves an almost dancelike movement. This highly recognizable stylistic element of the swayed-hip posture became especially popular during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong (712-756), when sculptures in general became more dynamic in their design.

Compare a similar bodhisattva image, with relatively large head and similar treatment of the robes, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated in Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p. 501, fig. 142F; a similar Avalokiteshvara with hexagonal, rather than square, base in the Harvard Art Museum's Buddhism and Early East Asian Buddhist Art exhibition (accession no. 1943.53.61); another formerly in the Stoclet and Swergold collections, also with an hexagonal base, dated corresponding to 651, in Osvald Sirén, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to Fourteenth Centuries, New York, 1925, pl. 419B; and two more figures, formerly in the Nitta Collection, now in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei included in The Crucible of Compassion and Wisdom, Taipei, 1987, pls 79 and 81.

Several figures in this posture bear images of Amitabha in the crown, while others like the present appear more refined with only a main jewel in the tiara. Conversely, all known figures of this type appear to grasp the ambrosia-filled bottle, the waters of which are thought to illuminate the laity with bodhi (awareness) when sprinkled using the deity’s willow-leaf or fly-whisk. Compare one further High Tang example of this type from the collection of Sakamoto Gorō, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 5th October 2016, lot 3219.

Lot 149. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. A bronze hexafoil 'boys' mirror, Song dynasty (960-1279). Diameter 14.8 cm, stand (2). Lot Sold 3,810 USD (Estimate 4,000 - 6,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Blitz Antiques, Amsterdam (International Asian Art Fair, New York), March 2003

Lot 172. A Collecting Journey: The Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection. A bronze seated figure of Bixia Yuanjun, Ming dynasty (1366-1644). Height 82.6 cm. Lot Sold 10,160 USD (Estimate 15,000 - 25,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Vallin Galleries, Wilton, 1994.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art | New York, 18 March 2025