Lot 107. A rare enamelled porcelain figure of Sakyamuni Buddha, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795). Estimate 600,000 — 800,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's
modelled in the form of Sakyamuni Buddha seated in vajraparyankasana, the right hand held inbhumisparshamudra and the left in dhyanamudra, clad in an brightly enamelled pleated robe draped over the left shoulder with the white undergarment gathered at the chest and cascading in folds near the bare feet, rendered with a downcast and serene countenance with an urna between his eyebrows, flanked by a pair of long pendulous earlobes, the hair finely incised and rendered with a domed usnisa below a jewel, the exposed skin of the Buddha applied with a bronze-brown glaze to simulate the patina of a bronze original, the reverse pierced with a circular aperture - 26.8 cm, 10 1/2 in.
Provenance: C.T. Loo, Paris.
Notes: This large size enamelled figure of Sakyamuni Buddha skilfully utilises a mottled bronze-brown glaze to simulate the patina of the bronze original. Such simulation of materials using porcelain was particularly popular during the Qianlong period, as it provided the opportunity for potters to display their creative proficiency in the medium while satisfying the Qianlong Emperor's taste for the novel. However, Buddhist figures in porcelain are particularly difficult to fire successfully, due to the complex modelling and repeated firing necessary to achieve successful results. It is likely that only a small number was produced, primarily for use in the imperial palace precincts.
A seated porcelain Buddha, glazed in imitation of gilt-bronze, also from the Qianlong period, preserved in the imperial palace in Shenyang, Liaoning province, one of the summer residences of the Qing emperors, is illustrated in The Prime Cultural Relics Collected by the Shenyang Imperial Palace Museum: The Chinaware Volume, Part II, Shenyang, 2008, p. 217.
For another seated porcelain figure of a Buddha in the Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, see Treasures in the royalty: The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p. 322. Compare also A famille-rose enamelled figure of a seated Avalokitesvara, sold in these rooms, 29th October 2001, lot 606. Another example, also from C.T. Loo, was included in theExhibition of Chinese Arts, C.T. Loo & Co., New York, 1941-42, cat. no. 750. See also an example from the collection of J.M. Hu, sold in our New York rooms, 4th June 1985, lot 70.
