Lot 23. A gilt-bronze figure of a Bodhisattva, Tang dynasty (618-907); 9.7cm., 3 3/4 in. Estimate 4,000 — 6,000 GBP. Lot sold 8,750 GBP (12,197 EUR). Photo courtesy Sotheby's.

cast standing on a floral pedestal with swaying foliate extensions, the hands clasped together before the chest, dressed in long robes falling into neat pleats around the body, the face with a serene expression with hair piled up into an elaborate chignon, surmounted by a mandorla incised with a flame border, wood stand and Japanese wood box.

Note: This bronze bodhisattva, cast with elegant swaying robes, was once part of a votive altar group; see a group with similarly modelled bodhisattva flanking Avalokitesvara, sold in our New York rooms, 21st September 2007, lot 9.

A pair of bronze bodhisattva similarly standing on leaves, in the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, is illustrated in Ji Chong Jian, The Buddhist Bronzes, Taipei, 1994, pl. 114; another in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, is illustrated in Hai-wai Yi-Chen. Chinese Art in Overseas Collections. Buddhist Sculpture, Taipei, 1990, pl. 96; and a third is published in Kindo butsu [Bronze Buddhist Sculpture], Tokyo, 2004, pl. 26.

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