A large finely carved sandstone head of Avalokiteshvara, Northern Qi...
Property of a Gentleman
A large finely carved sandstone head of Avalokiteshvara,
Northern Qi - Sui dynasty
士紳收藏
北齊至隋 砂岩石雕觀音菩薩像首
38.4 cm
Condition Report:
As visible in the illustration the head is in overall good condition with just typical expected breaks to the headdress and tips of the earlobes. There is also minor infilling to the edge of the nose with areas of minor retouching.
如圖所見，總體品相良好，頭冠及耳垂處有磕碰及遺失，屬石雕類常見損傷。鼻邊沿有輕微填充及修飾。
Catalogue Note:
This serene head depicts the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. The sublimely carved oval face is counterbalanced by a tall crown richly carved with palmettes and foliate motifs, centred by a figure of Amitabha Buddha. It combines traces of the Northern Qi style in the slight angularity of the features with the more rounded style of the Sui, seen in the full cheeks and sumptuously carved crown. As such, it foreshadows the Sui dynasty’s trend towards naturalism with the inherited idealised forms that conventionally conveyed the purity of Buddhist subjects.
The political and social turmoil that accompanied dynastic changes in the 6th century significantly impacted Chinese Buddhist practice in several ways, which are reflected in religious art of the period. In their search for refuge beyond the chaos of the material world, a variant form of Pure Land Buddhism, in which devotion to Amitabha (or a bodhisattva such as Avalokiteshvara) allowed adherents to be reborn in Sukhavati (the Western Paradise of the Buddha Amitabha), grew in popularity. Consequently, images of bodhisattvas proliferated in the third quarter of the 6th century, as evidenced by the present and numerous contemporaneous examples. The Sui dynasty emperors used this invigoration of Buddhist faith as an opportunity to embark on major building projects, including the construction of pagodas, temples and religious statuary, as a means of unifying the fragmented empire. This religio-political agenda also led to increased communication across eastern Eurasia, which contributed to the transmission of Buddhist concepts and artistic styles from South and Central Asia into China and from China to Korea and Japan. This had the concurrent effect of diversifying the visual vocabulary of each region of the empire.
This is an exquisite sculpture with a prestigious provenance dating back to 1940, when it was acquired from Mathias Komor in Beijing by Francesco Maria, Marchese Taliani de Marchio (1887-1968), an Italian diplomat who served as Ambassador to China between 1938 and 1946. In the style of carving and texture of the stone, it is reminiscent of sculptures from the Tianlongshan Caves, Shanxi province, and most closely related to the sculpture from Cave 16, traditionally assigned to the Northern Qi dynasty. See several bodhisattva heads published in Tianlongshan shi ku [Tianlongshan grottoes], Beijing, 2004, pls 145-147, 151 and 156. Further related heads believed to have come from Tianlongshan include one in the Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis, coll. no. MIA.L2015.172.8; and two in the Nezu Museum, Tokyo, coll. nos NZM.20081 and NZM.20065. Compare also a carved figure of Guanyin in the Detroit Institute of Arts, accession no. 26.128, dated by inscription to 581 and attributed to Shaanxi or Henan province by Osvald Sirén in Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, vols 1 and 4, New York, 1925, pl. 305.
For a Northern Qi sandstone head sold at auction, see the image of Buddha included in the exhibition, China Cultuur Vroeger en nu [Chinese culture past & present], Centrum voor Kunst en Cultuur [Centre for arts and culture], Gent, 1979, no. 292 and illustrated in Ancient Chinese Bronze and Sculpture, Eskenazi Ltd., London, 2005, cat. no. 8, and sold in these rooms, 7th April 2014, lot 3604.
此尊觀音菩薩首像眉目端雅，臉龐圓潤，容貌安恬，逸群而出塵，配以華冠，上飾卷葉及阿彌陀佛，相得益彰。五官分明，屬北齊特徵，雙頰飽滿，冠飾富麗，則兼隋代韻致。隋人造像風格亦承前朝，以完美身相展現佛法清淨，勢之所趨，於此像已見端倪。
六世紀，時局動盪，政權頻更，中土佛教亦風行草從，諸般影響於其時宗教藝術即可窺見。現世渾濁，為尋超脫，廣大信眾皈投淨土宗，供奉阿彌陀佛（或菩薩，如觀世音等），以求往生淨土（西方極樂世界）。故而，六世紀中晚期，菩薩造像多如雨後春筍，本像及大量同期造像皆湧現於此。隋朝天子大興土木，立佛塔，建佛寺，造佛像，借助佛教信仰一統天下。佛教治國下，東歐亞大陸交流密切，佛法與藝術自南亞、中亞傳入中土，又經中土遠播朝鮮及日本。一時，四海之內，造像形貌氣象萬千。
此像來源有緒，乃意大利大使戴良尼（1887-1968年）早於1940年駐華期間（1938-46年），在北京從 Mathias Komor 購得。本像雕工、選材，與山西天龍山石窟相近，其中尤與第十六窟斷代北齊之造像甚似，見幾例菩薩首像，載於《天龍山石窟》，北京，2004年，圖版145-147、151及156。相類首像另有三例，據傳均出自天龍山，其一，貯明尼亞波利斯美術館，編號MIA.L2015.172.8；其餘二例，藏東京根津美術館，編號 NZM.20081 及 NZM.20065。仍可比較一觀音像，蓄底特律美術館，館藏編號26.128，銘文紀581年，據喜龍仁研究，乃陝西或河南所出，錄於《Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century》，卷1及4，紐約，1925年，圖版305。
參考一尊北齊砂岩石佛首像，曾展於《China Cultuur Vroeger en nu （中國文化之古往今來）》，文化藝術中心 （Centrum coor Kunst en Cultuur），根特，1979年，編號 292，又載於《Ancient Chinese and Sculpture》，埃斯卡納齊，倫敦，2005年，編號8，後售於香港蘇富比2014年4月7日，編號3604。
Provenance:
Mathias Komor, Beijing, 7th October 1940.
Collection of Francesco Maria, Marchese Taliani de Marchio (1887-1968), Italian ambassador to China from 1938-46.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 1st April 2019, lot 3055.
Mathias Komor，北京，1940年10月7日
戴良尼（1887-1968年）收藏，戴氏為1938-46年間意大利駐華大使
香港蘇富比2019年4月1日，編號3055
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Property of a Gentleman
A large finely carved sandstone head of Avalokiteshvara,
Northern Qi - Sui dynasty
士紳收藏
北齊至隋 砂岩石雕觀音菩薩像首
38.4 cm
Condition Report:
As visible in the illustration the head is in overall good condition with just typical expected breaks to the headdress and tips of the earlobes. There is also minor infilling to the edge of the nose with areas of minor retouching.
如圖所見，總體品相良好，頭冠及耳垂處有磕碰及遺失，屬石雕類常見損傷。鼻邊沿有輕微填充及修飾。
Catalogue Note:
This serene head depicts the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. The sublimely carved oval face is counterbalanced by a tall crown richly carved with palmettes and foliate motifs, centred by a figure of Amitabha Buddha. It combines traces of the Northern Qi style in the slight angularity of the features with the more rounded style of the Sui, seen in the full cheeks and sumptuously carved crown. As such, it foreshadows the Sui dynasty’s trend towards naturalism with the inherited idealised forms that conventionally conveyed the purity of Buddhist subjects.
The political and social turmoil that accompanied dynastic changes in the 6th century significantly impacted Chinese Buddhist practice in several ways, which are reflected in religious art of the period. In their search for refuge beyond the chaos of the material world, a variant form of Pure Land Buddhism, in which devotion to Amitabha (or a bodhisattva such as Avalokiteshvara) allowed adherents to be reborn in Sukhavati (the Western Paradise of the Buddha Amitabha), grew in popularity. Consequently, images of bodhisattvas proliferated in the third quarter of the 6th century, as evidenced by the present and numerous contemporaneous examples. The Sui dynasty emperors used this invigoration of Buddhist faith as an opportunity to embark on major building projects, including the construction of pagodas, temples and religious statuary, as a means of unifying the fragmented empire. This religio-political agenda also led to increased communication across eastern Eurasia, which contributed to the transmission of Buddhist concepts and artistic styles from South and Central Asia into China and from China to Korea and Japan. This had the concurrent effect of diversifying the visual vocabulary of each region of the empire.
This is an exquisite sculpture with a prestigious provenance dating back to 1940, when it was acquired from Mathias Komor in Beijing by Francesco Maria, Marchese Taliani de Marchio (1887-1968), an Italian diplomat who served as Ambassador to China between 1938 and 1946. In the style of carving and texture of the stone, it is reminiscent of sculptures from the Tianlongshan Caves, Shanxi province, and most closely related to the sculpture from Cave 16, traditionally assigned to the Northern Qi dynasty. See several bodhisattva heads published in Tianlongshan shi ku [Tianlongshan grottoes], Beijing, 2004, pls 145-147, 151 and 156. Further related heads believed to have come from Tianlongshan include one in the Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis, coll. no. MIA.L2015.172.8; and two in the Nezu Museum, Tokyo, coll. nos NZM.20081 and NZM.20065. Compare also a carved figure of Guanyin in the Detroit Institute of Arts, accession no. 26.128, dated by inscription to 581 and attributed to Shaanxi or Henan province by Osvald Sirén in Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, vols 1 and 4, New York, 1925, pl. 305.
For a Northern Qi sandstone head sold at auction, see the image of Buddha included in the exhibition, China Cultuur Vroeger en nu [Chinese culture past & present], Centrum voor Kunst en Cultuur [Centre for arts and culture], Gent, 1979, no. 292 and illustrated in Ancient Chinese Bronze and Sculpture, Eskenazi Ltd., London, 2005, cat. no. 8, and sold in these rooms, 7th April 2014, lot 3604.
此尊觀音菩薩首像眉目端雅，臉龐圓潤，容貌安恬，逸群而出塵，配以華冠，上飾卷葉及阿彌陀佛，相得益彰。五官分明，屬北齊特徵，雙頰飽滿，冠飾富麗，則兼隋代韻致。隋人造像風格亦承前朝，以完美身相展現佛法清淨，勢之所趨，於此像已見端倪。
六世紀，時局動盪，政權頻更，中土佛教亦風行草從，諸般影響於其時宗教藝術即可窺見。現世渾濁，為尋超脫，廣大信眾皈投淨土宗，供奉阿彌陀佛（或菩薩，如觀世音等），以求往生淨土（西方極樂世界）。故而，六世紀中晚期，菩薩造像多如雨後春筍，本像及大量同期造像皆湧現於此。隋朝天子大興土木，立佛塔，建佛寺，造佛像，借助佛教信仰一統天下。佛教治國下，東歐亞大陸交流密切，佛法與藝術自南亞、中亞傳入中土，又經中土遠播朝鮮及日本。一時，四海之內，造像形貌氣象萬千。
此像來源有緒，乃意大利大使戴良尼（1887-1968年）早於1940年駐華期間（1938-46年），在北京從 Mathias Komor 購得。本像雕工、選材，與山西天龍山石窟相近，其中尤與第十六窟斷代北齊之造像甚似，見幾例菩薩首像，載於《天龍山石窟》，北京，2004年，圖版145-147、151及156。相類首像另有三例，據傳均出自天龍山，其一，貯明尼亞波利斯美術館，編號MIA.L2015.172.8；其餘二例，藏東京根津美術館，編號 NZM.20081 及 NZM.20065。仍可比較一觀音像，蓄底特律美術館，館藏編號26.128，銘文紀581年，據喜龍仁研究，乃陝西或河南所出，錄於《Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century》，卷1及4，紐約，1925年，圖版305。
參考一尊北齊砂岩石佛首像，曾展於《China Cultuur Vroeger en nu （中國文化之古往今來）》，文化藝術中心 （Centrum coor Kunst en Cultuur），根特，1979年，編號 292，又載於《Ancient Chinese and Sculpture》，埃斯卡納齊，倫敦，2005年，編號8，後售於香港蘇富比2014年4月7日，編號3604。
Provenance:
Mathias Komor, Beijing, 7th October 1940.
Collection of Francesco Maria, Marchese Taliani de Marchio (1887-1968), Italian ambassador to China from 1938-46.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 1st April 2019, lot 3055.
Mathias Komor，北京，1940年10月7日
戴良尼（1887-1968年）收藏，戴氏為1938-46年間意大利駐華大使
香港蘇富比2019年4月1日，編號3055
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