唐珍收藏
拍品编号：0181
估价：GBP150,000—250,000
成交价：325,000
拍卖时间：2019-11-06 上午11:30
拍卖地点：伦敦
拍卖公司：伦敦蘇富比
简介：详情
A RARE LARGE GILT-BRONZE VOTIVE FIGURE OF PADMAPANI
NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY, FOURTH YEAR OF THE YONGPING PERIOD, CORRESPONDING TO 511 AD
北魏永平四年（511年） 鎏金铜莲华手观音立像
well cast standing in abhanga on a lotus pedestal base, the left hand holding a stem and the other grasping a flask, the slender body dressed with a diaphanous dhoti and long scarf draping over the shoulders and upper arms, the face with a pensive expression below hair gathered in a high chignon, against a mandorla festooned with a circular halo with radiating lotus petals and swirling flames extending to the pointed tip, all supported on a four-legged platform adorned with floral motifs, inscribed to the back of the stand and continued to one side with a partially decipherable dedicatory inscription, dated to the fourth year of the Yongping period (511 AD)
拍品状况
图录资料
来源
Vicomte de Bragelogne, Paris.
Eskenazi Ltd., London.
Vicomte de Bragelogne，巴黎
埃斯卡纳齐，伦敦
展览
Ancient Chinese Bronzes and Gilt Bronzes from the Wessen and Other Collections, Eskenazi Ltd., London, 1980, cat. no. 23.
《Ancient Chinese Bronzes and Gilt Bronzes from the Wessen and Other Collections》, 埃斯卡纳齐，伦敦，1980年，编号23
Ancient Chinese Bronze Vessels, Gilt Bronzes and Early Ceramics, Christian Deydier Oriental Bronzes Ltd, London, 1986, cat. no 12.
《Ancient Chinese Bronze Vessels, Gilt Bronzes and Early Ceramics》, 戴克诚，伦敦，1986年，编号12
相关资料
Standing majestically against a large and finely incised mandorla, this figure of the bodhisattva Padmapani ranks among the largest gilt-bronze sculptures from the Northern Wei dynasty remaining in private hands. Its serene expression and captivating smile, voluminous body and powerful pose, are testament to the gradual development of an indigenous Buddhist style in northern China.
Under the patronage of the ruling Northern Wei dynasty, founded by the Tuoba clan of the Xianbei ethnic group, Buddhism flourishing in China. The imperial family of this foreign dynasty actively supported the religion and regarded it as a means to legitimise their rule in a society dominated by Han Chinese values. Buddhist images proliferated in this period, and different phases of development can be discerned. The influence of Gandharan and Central Asian sculptures, at first taken as models to follow, gradually developed into a style that also took into consideration Chinese aesthetic language. During the reign of Emperor Xiaowen (r. 471-499), this process of sinicisation accelerated as the capital was moved from Datong to Luoyang, the former capital of the Eastern Han dynasty. Furthermore, the Emperor actively sponsored the assimilation of Han Chinese costumes on members of the Tuoba clan, a trend that continued under his successor, Emperor Xuanwu (r. 500-515) when this figure was created. Dated in accordance to 511, this sculpture carries stylistic elements that represent this artistic shift. The figure’s voluminous body and its aristocratic pose display the continued influence of Gandharan and Central Asian imagery, while the large flaming mandorla and the bodhisattva’s blissful smile, which wold have made this figure more appealing and accessible to a Chinese devotee, are characteristics of early 5th century sculptures. The tall, thin body evidence an increased interest in verticality, while the crisp rendering of the figure’s skirt that falls in regular pleats and the incised flames on the mandorla are endowed with a rhythmic, almost calligraphic quality.
This figure depicts Padmapani, also known as the “lotus bearer”, a manifestation of Avalokitesvara, or Guanyin, the much-revered bodhisattva of Compassion and Mercy. The cult of Padmapani and this distinctive iconography emerged in the late 4th and early 5th century, and continued to be popular until the Tang dynasty (618-907). In this manifestation, Avalokitesvara, who is credited the creation of all things animate and is believed to impersonate the power of creation, is depicted majestically standing against a flaming mandora to display his strength. The bodhisattva is dressed like a prince, wearing a necklace and a tall crown, and holding a lotus flower, a sign of his purity and spiritual elevation.
This piece appears to be among the largest examples of the bodhisattva Padmapani from the late 4th and early 5th century, and only one larger gilt-bronze figure appears to be known: measuring 35.8 cm in height, and dated by inscription to 498, in the Nitta collection, illustrated in Ji Chong Jian, The Buddhist Bronzes, Taipei, 1994, pl. 73. A slightly smaller figure, with a cyclical date corresponding to 504, illustrated ibid., pl. 80, was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28th/29th October 2001, lot 503; and another with a scarf draped around a shoulder, dated in accordance to 514, in the Shanghai Museum, is published ibid., pl. 82.
A much smaller figure dated to 501, is illustrated in Matsubara Saburō, Chūgoku Bukkyō chōkoku shiron [Historical survey of Chinese Buddhist sculpture], Tokyo, 1995, vol. I, pl. 107, together with a figure lacking the mandorla, in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, pl. 108b; another also dated to 501, in the Shanghai Museum, is published in Ji Chong Jie, op. cit., pl. 77, together with one dated in accordance to 500, pl. 78; one dated to 499, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Classics of the Forbidden City. Sculptures in the Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, 2014, pl. 127; and a further sculpture of Padmapani, with a cyclical date corresponding to 512, was sold at Christie’s London, 16th June 1986, lot 26. See also a later example, dated to 544, from the collection of A.F. Philips, sold in these rooms, 30th March 1978, lot 34.
本像佛相庄严，背光尺寸庞大，刻工精细，现时属于私人收藏之北魏鎏金铜莲华手观音大型造像为数甚少，此乃其一。观音面带微笑，慈悲安谧， 体态丰盈，不怒而威，见证中国北方佛教造像发展中土风格之渐进过程。
中土以汉族为主，北魏鲜卑拓跋氏建立北魏后，致力奠定其政权正统性，佛教因而获得朝廷支持，是以于中国发展迅速。佛像造像于此时期发展蓬勃，从中可观察各个阶段。发展初期，艺匠以犍陀罗及中亚造像为模楷，后来风格演变，注入中国美学语言。北魏孝文帝自大同迁都至东汉旧都洛阳，汉化过程加速，并纳汉服传统于拓跋族衣着，此风尚并延续于继任之宣武帝年间，即本像制作之时。本像断代公元511年，艺术风格展现此中演变过程。造像身躯丰满，姿态高贵，展现犍陀罗及中亚造像风格影响，大型火焰背光，以及菩萨面露笑容，则更易为中国信众所接受，两者均属五世纪早期特色。而佛像身形高挑，反映高度之重要性增加，而裙褶叠曲有序，背光火焰刻划清晰，气韵生动，神彩宛如书法挥毫。
莲华手观音像形象独特，发展于四世纪后期至五世纪初期，持续流行至唐代，此像衣着如皇子，戴项链宝冠，手持莲花，象征洁净，精神崇高，火焰背光，站姿威严，展示无边佛法。
本像属于四世纪后期至五世纪初莲华手观音像尺寸最庞大作例之一，尺寸更大之鎏金铜作例仅有一品，35.8公分高，按年款断代498年，现藏于Nitta收藏，图载于季崇建，《金铜佛像》，台北，1994年，图版73。另一例尺寸较小，断代504年，前述出处，图版80，售于香港佳士得2001年10月28/29日，编号503；上海博物馆收藏一例，肩披围巾，断代514年，前述出处，图版82。
另比一例，尺寸远较本品为小，断代501，图载于松原三郎，《中国仏教雕刻史论》，东京，1995年，卷1，图版107，同书并载另一例，无背光，现存于旧金山亚洲艺术博物馆，图版108b；另一例断代501年，现藏于上海博物馆，图载于季崇建，出处同上，图版77，同书并载一例，断代500年，图版78；北京故宫博物院亦藏一例，断代499年，图载于《Classics of the Forbidden City. Sculptures in the Collection of the Palace Museum》，北京，2014年，图版127；再比一莲华手观音像例，断代512年，售于伦敦佳士得1986年6月16日，编号26。尚有一例，断代544年，出自A.F. Philips收藏，售于伦敦苏富比1978年3月30日，编号34。
拍品分类：佛教文物>佛教文物其它
拍卖会：2019年11月拍卖会
拍卖专场：重要中国艺术
预展时间：2019年11月4日-5日
预展地点：伦敦
