The Property of a Lady 女士藏品
Lot 113Y
An exceptionally rare pale green jade figure of Mahāsthāmaprāpta Circa 13th/14th century
7 November 2019, 10:30 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £190,000 inc. premium
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Chinese Art (US)
Chinese Art (HK)
Asaph Hyman
Global Head of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art
Dessa Goddard
Senior Vice President, US Head, Asian Art Group
Colin Sheaf
Consultant
Shipping (UK)
Rachel Hyman
Department Director
Asian Art (AUS)
An exceptionally rare pale green jade figure of Mahāsthāmaprāpta
Circa 13th/14th century
Boldy carved seated in 'royal ease' with the right hand holding the edge of the celestial long flowing robe draped over both shoulders tied in a sash around the waist and over the chest revealing a necklace, the robe decorated with a diaper ground, the face with a serene expression below almond-shaped eyes below the finely incised eyebrows and tall crown adorned with a double-gourd elixir bottle framing the high chignon tied with a sash falling in two pleats to the reverse, the base with with two hollowed points for securing the figure to a stand, the stone of celadon tone with minor inclusions, wood stand.
18.4cm (7 1/8in) high (2).
Boldy carved seated in 'royal ease' with the right hand holding the edge of the celestial long flowing robe draped over both shoulders tied in a sash around the waist and over the chest revealing a necklace, the robe decorated with a diaper ground, the face with a serene expression below almond-shaped eyes below the finely incised eyebrows and tall crown adorned with a double-gourd elixir bottle framing the high chignon tied with a sash falling in two pleats to the reverse, the base with with two hollowed points for securing the figure to a stand, the stone of celadon tone with minor inclusions, wood stand.
18.4cm (7 1/8in) high (2).
Footnotes
約十三/十四世紀 青白玉雕大勢至菩薩像
Provenance: an English private collection, and thence by descent
來源：英國私人收藏，並由後人保存迄今
The present figure is a very rare and relatively large jade figure of Mahāsthāmaprāpta, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, known in Chinese as Dashizhi Pusa. She is recognisable by the elixir bottle in her crown. See for example, a wood carving of Dashizhi Pusa with a bottle in her crown, Sui dynasty, in Harvard Art Museum (acc.no.1943.53.25).
Compare with a very similar jade figure of Tankasri Avalokiteshvara, Song dynasty, illustrated in The Jade of Lustrous Virtue: Song Dynasty Jade from the Wuzhang shanfang Collection, Hangzhou, 2018, pp.22-27.
The strong and masterful style of carving apparent in the sharp cuts depicting the robe and sashes, the bold carving of the crown adorned with cloud scrolls flanking the double-gourd, and the deftly carved linear carvings of the facial features, elongated ears and incised lines, are all typical of jade carvings of the 12th-13th century. Compare with a jade figure of an arhat, Song dynasty, unearthed from the Xilin Pagoda, Songjiang, Shanghai, illustrated in Shanghai Museum Ancient Chinese Jade Gallery, Shanghai, p.34. See also the closely related diaper-ground decorating the robes of a russet jade carving of a boy, Song dynasty, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Jadeware (II), Hong Kong, 1995, no.83.
See a related but later celadon jade figure of Avalokiteshvara, Yuan-Ming dynasty, which was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 30 November 2017, lot 66.
