A bronze figure of a Water-and-Moon Guanyin. Song... Lot 54

A bronze figure of a Water-and-Moon Guanyin. Song dynasty, 11th/13th century Seated in rajalila, the right arm resting on the knee, the chest displaying a necklace. The hair arrangend into a high chignon with a small Amitabha figure seated in front. Covered with a black lacquer patina with traces of lacquer gilding. On a stand covered with brown velvet. Representations of Avalokiteshvara seated in this variant fashion of rajalila in a natural surrounding are understood as references to the Water-Moon manifestation (Shuiyue Guanyin). The identification is based on the Avatamsaka Sutra, in which the boy Sudhana, in search for enlightenment, visits 53 wise teachers. The 28th teacher is Avalokiteshvara (chin. Guanyin), who resides on Mount Potalaka located on an island. The image of Shuiyue Guanyin developed in China around the 10th century and quickly became one of the more prominent forms of this bodhisattva. In Chinese Buddhist paintings of the Song dynasty this manifestation of Avalokiteshvara is depicted seated at ease on a rock surrounded by water, obviously in allusion the mountain island. While large wooden sculptures of Shiyue Guanyin dating to the Song dynasty can nowadays be seen in many museums, the smaller bronze models such as the present example are less well known. The bronze adaptation of this subject usually comes in three assembled parts, a four-legged dais with rock-imitation platform, the seated figure with one leg flexed, the other pendant and an openwork aureole suggesting a grotto. Most of the bronze Shiyue Guanyin figures however have lost their base and aureole. Height with stand 14.3 cm Literature The Freer Gallery in Washington, DC houses two similar Song dynasty bronze figures of Shuiyue Guanyin. The one illustrated in Hugo Munsterberg, Chinese Buddhist Bronzes, New York 1988 (Reprint), fig. 69, is covered with partly rubbed gilded lacquer, and the patina is very similar to the present figure. Kaikodo published a Shuiyue Guanyin in his Journal (2000, no. 72, p. 222-223 and 350), illustrating comparable figures in various Chinese collections. The figure in the Palace Museum Beijing is published in Gugong bowuyuan lidai yishuguan chenlienpin tumu, Beijing 1991, fig. 805, p. 293. A comparable bronze figure of Shuiyue Guanyin was sold in these rooms 8/9.12.2016, lot 222.