A CAST-IRON FIGURE OF SAMANTABHADRA

Estimated Value:

4.000 € - 6.000 €

Result:

incl. Premium and VAT

Description:

China, Ming dynasty
H. 42,3 cm
Seated in bhadrasana on the caparisoned elephant kneeling on a lotus-base with his head turned towards the viewer, his right hand in vitarkamudra while the left is placed in front of his chest, both holding stems of lotuses flowering along the shoulders, one supporting a manuscript, wearing dhoti, bejewelled, his face displaying a serene expression with downcast eyes below arched eyebrows running into the nose-bridge, elongated earlobes with ear-ornaments, the hairdo combed in a chignon and secured with a five-leaf crown, the reverse with inscriptions which mentions the names of the founders wife of Wang Tan, Mrs. Hu and a monk named Zu Zhen, on the back inscription Puxian Pusa.
Old South German private collection, collected in the 1980s/90s
Puxian, or Samantabhadra, is the bodhisattva of Benevolence, or Universal Kindness, and is usually shown seated on a white elephant, as in the present example. Puxian is often shown in a triad of Buddha Sakyamuni and the bodhisattva Manjusri, the latter represented seated on a lion, and the two bodhisattvas flanking the central figure of Sakyamuni. The three together are called San da shi. Stylistically the present figure is similar to a wood carving of Puxian seated in lalitasana atop a recumbent elephant, dated late Yuan or early Ming dynasty, in the Avery Brundage Collection, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, and illustrated by d'Argencé et al., Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture, Japan, 1974, no. 149. Compare, also, the similar figure of a bodhisattva dated to the 14ht/15th century included in the exhibition, Sculpture and ornament in early Chinese art, Eskenazi, London, 11 June-13 July 1990, no. 33
Somewhat corroded, fingers partly damaged, small missing parts at the base

Bidding Enquiry

previous lot Catalogue next lot