Beschreibung:

Lot details China, 386-534. Finely carved standing on a circular lotus dais, the right hand held in front of the chest and the left lowered at his side, the head slightly tilted to his right. Wearing long flowing robes secured at the waist and billowing scarves falling loosely over the body. The face sensitively carved with a serene expression marked by heavy-lidded eyes, gently arched brows, and full lips, flanked by long pendulous earlobes. A simple tiara with a central flower separates the braids of hair pulled up in front of the head, and equally serves as the base for a hairdo that forms an almost crown-like design on top. Provenance: A private collection in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, pre-1983. Anunt Hengtrakul, New York, USA, acquired from the above c. 1984. Michael B. Weisbrod, Inc., New York, USA, acquired from the above, c. 1992. The collection of J. Abraham Cohen, New York, USA, acquired from the above. Anunt Hengtrakul was a collector of fine Chinese works of art, active in the US and Canada during the 1980s and 1990s. In the early 2000s, he began to gift objects to museums, including the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, and the Middlebury College Museum of Art in Middlebury, Vermont. Michael B. Weisbrod is a noted scholar of Chinese art, who has published extensively on the subject over a time span of more than 50 years. In 1972, Michael joined his father Dr. Gerald Weisbrod’s Asian art gallery in Toronto, Canada. The father-and-son team opened their New York location on Madison Avenue in 1977, and during the next 45 years the gallery held a significant number of exhibitions, selling to museums and private collectors across the globe, eventually adding further locations in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Published: Michael B. Weisbrod, Inc., Brochure, New York, 1992. Condition: Excellent condition, commensurate with age, and presenting remarkably well. Extensive wear, minor losses and cracks, small nicks, light scratches, signs of weathering and erosion, some encrustations. Fine, naturally grown patina with a subtle luster overall, worn from centuries of exposure to the natural elements. Weight: 5,796 g (excl. stand) Dimensions: Height 53.5 cm (excl. stand) and 59 cm (incl. stand) Sculptures of this type are known to be from the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, Henan, China. They are all fragmentary, and of a dark and mottled color, alternating from gray to black, as seen on the back of the present statue where the raw stone becomes visible. Occasionally, a light brown color appears on the carved surface in the front. All figures were cut from the caves in a particular manner, leaving the present statue with a V-shaped cross-section. Of all the caves in the Longmen Grottoes, those completed during the Northern Wei and Tang dynasties make up around 30 % and 60 %, respectively. Naturally, these two dynasties show widely different styles of carving. Those of the Northern Wei are vivacious, slim, and sensitively carved, while the Tang figures are more plump. The Wei figures are some of the finest examples of Chinese Buddhist art. Literature comparison: Several illustrated examples, found in different collections and museums around the world, have been published in The Lost Statues of Longmen Cave, Longmen Grottoes Research Institute, by C. K. Chan, Wen Yucheng, and Wang Zhenguo, numbers 6, 9, 11, and 22, all of which have characteristics similar to the present lot including the long upper torso, low waist, S-shaped folds on the robes or sleeves, and the shallow but confident carving of the details, as well as a similar patina and encrustation. Compare two closely related limestone figures of attendant bodhisattvas, dated to the Northern Wei dynasty, early 6th century, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession numbers 48.176 and 48.182.4. Compare a related limestone figure of a seated Buddha, dated to the Northern Wei dynasty, in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, object number B60S40. Compare a related sandstone figure prob