A Rare Pair of Tang Dynasty Bodhisattva Figures at Christie's Autumn Sales

Tang Dynasty is the golden age of Chinese history. After over a thousand years, people still long for the prosperity and harmony of Tang yet we can only get a glimpse of the golden era through surviving artworks. In the upcoming sales, Christie’s is going to offer a pair of Tang standing bodhisattva figures that had travelled all the way from the Tang dynasty to modern New York.

Measuring at 67 cm, the figures are two specific bodhisattvas -  Avalokiteshvara (known in Chinese as Guanshiyin) and Mahasthamaprapta (known in Chinese as Dashizhi Pusa). Mahasthamaprapta, the bodhisattva of the power of wisdom, awakens in humans their need to be liberated from the samsara cycle of birth and rebirth. Mahasthamaprapta stands in a pair with Avalokiteshvara and in association with the Buddha Amitabha to form the Amitabha Triad. Avalokiteshvara enacts Amitabha’s compassion, and Mahasthamaprapta brings to humanity the power of Amitabha’s wisdom.

Bodhisattva figure

Bodhisattva figure

Crown of the bodhisattva

Its left hand holding a small jar filled with holy water

The two figures have lived for over a thousand years, thus small damages are unavoidable. The Avalokiteshvara figure had lost its right arm which was very likely holding a long-stemmed lotus. Its left arm holds a small jar of holy water. The high top knot suggests that the figure is Avalokiteshvara but its face is partly damaged.


Avalokiteshvara is basically a small statue of Amitābha and there are many stories as to how it came about. One of the stories says that Avalokiteshvara was originally a mortal who followed the Amitābha and reached enlightenment. He then put a niche for the statue of Buddha on his head to worship and show gratitude to Amitābha.

Mahasthamaprapta figure

Mahasthamaprapta figure

An elixir bottle on the figure’s head

Diaphanous dhoti at the waist

The other figure that had lost its left arm has hair dressed in a high, looped topknot decorated in front with an elixir bottle. The figure wears a beaded necklace, a scarf draped around the torso and over the shoulders, and a diaphanous dhoti that is gathered at the waist and falls in deep U-shaped folds to just above the feet.


The fleshy necks, each with three strongly articulated folds, and the well-modelled faces with plump cheeks point to an early eighth-century date of creation.  Falling in long, elliptical folds over the lower portion of each body, the sheer drapery clings tightly to reveal not only the presence of the body but also its structure, another typical feature of the early eighth-century style.

Like virtually all early Buddhist sculptures of stone and wood, these two bodhisattvas originally would have been embellished with brightly colored mineral pigments, including saffron, blues, and greens for the robes and scarves, gilding for the jewelry, pink or white for the flesh, and black, or possibly blue, for the hair.


This pair of standing bodhisattvas boasts an enviable provenance. Grenville L. Winthrop (1864–1943), the renowned New York collector of early Chinese art and of European drawings and paintings, once owned the pair. They also passed through the galleries of prominent art dealers in New York and London, including Yamanaka & Co., Frank Caro (successor to C.T. Loo) and Eskenazi (London). They were also featured in Osvald Sirén’s ‘Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century’.


'Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century'

Eskenazi is a top Chinese antiques dealer

The figures will be offered at Christie’s autumn sale on 13th September in New York with an estimate of US$1.5m - 2.5m respectively.


A Pair of Tang Standing Bodhisattvas

An Important and Very Rare Grey Limestone Figure of Mahasthamaprapta; Early Tang Dynasty, 8th Century

Lot no.: 1123
Height: 67cm
Provenance:

  • Grenville L. Winthrop (1864-1943) Collection, New York, acquired prior to 1925. Yamanaka & Co., Inc.; Parke Bernet Galleries, New York, 27 May 1944, lot 805 (part). C. T. Loo & Co., New York.
  • Frank Caro, successor to C. T. Loo, New York, June 1961.
  • James W. and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago. Eskenazi Ltd., London, 1990.
  • The Property of a Lady; Christie’s New York, 16 September 1998, lot 284

Estimate: US$1,500,000 - 2,500,000

An Important and Very Rare Grey Limestone Figure of Avalokiteshvara Early; Tang Dynsty, 8th Century

Lot no.: 1124
Height: 67cm
Provenance:

  • Grenville L. Winthrop (1864-1943) Collection, New York, acquired prior to 1925.
  • Yamanaka & Co., Inc.; Parke Bernet Galleries, New York, 27 May 1944, lot 805 (part).
  • C. T. Loo & Co., New York. Frank Caro, successor to C. T. Loo, New York, June 1961.
  • James W. and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago. Eskenazi Ltd., London, 1990.
  • The Property of a Lady; Christie’s New York, 16 September 1998, lot 283.

Estimate: US$1,500,000 - 2,500,000


Auction Details
Auction house: Christie’s New York
Sale: Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art
Lots offered: 295
Preview:
8 September 2018|10am - 5pm
9 September 2018|1pm - 5pm
10 - 11 September 2018|10am - 5pm
12 September 2018|10am - 2pm
Sale:
13 September 2018|11am (lots 1101-1137)
14 September 2018|10am (lots 1150-1270)
14 September 2018|2pm (lots 1271-1407)