A LARGE WOOD FIGURE OF WATER-MOON AVALOKITESHVARA 'SHUIYUE GUANYIN'

Description:

China, Qing dynasty
ca. 115 x 87 x 54 cm
Seated in maharajalilasana with his right arm elegantly resting on his raised right knee while the left arm is placed on a two-legged arm-rest, wearing a dhoti falling in pleats around his legs, a cape draped over his shoulders, its streamers encircling his arms, a scarf tied across his chest, bejewelled, his face displaying a serene expression with downcast inlaid eyes below arched eyebrows that run into the nose-bridge, smiling lips, elongated earlobes, his hair combed in a chignon with some tresses falling down his shoulders and secured with a tiara carved with various floral patterns, the reverse with a rectangular cavity, residue of pigments.
German private collection, acquired prior to 2007 - A C14 radiocarbon analysis by the Curt-Engelhorn-Zentrum Archäometrie gGmbH, 14 August 2024, confirms a date between 1644 and 1797 - Damages due to age
In this pose, Guanyin is referred to as Water Moon Avalokiteshvara, seated and looking at the reflection of the moon on the water, a depiction that has gained popularity in China since the Song dynasty.
Guanyin is usually depicted in this pose without a stool to support his left arm. Such examples with an outstretched left arm are found more frequently, for example at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 November 2023, lot 2891 and 4 June 2024, lot 3142, as well as at Bonhams New York, 18 September 2023, lot 123 and Bonhams London, 12 May 2016, lot 236. Cf. Bonhams London, 5 November 2020, lot 11. An example of such a figure, albeit lacquered, was sold by Bonhams London, 7 November 2016, lot 91.