Live Auction 11930AN INQUIRING MIND: AMERICAN COLLECTING OF JAPANESE AND KOREAN ART
A gilt-bronze seated figure of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Gwanse’eum Bosal)
Lot 96

A gilt-bronze seated figure of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Gwanse’eum Bosal)

Goryeo dynasty (13th -14th century)

Closed15 April 2016

Price Realised

USD 47,500

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A gilt-bronze seated figure of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Gwanse’eum Bosal)
Goryeo dynasty (13th -14th century)
Cast as a seated figure with the right hand raised in vitarkamudra, and the left hand resting at the center, dressed in a skirt with a scarf draped around the shoulders, over the arms and across the front of the crossed legs, the chest and arms adorned with various jewelries, the hair gathered up into a high coiffure adorned with an elaborate head-ornament
8 ½ in. (21.6 cm.) high

Private collection, Japan

Specialist note

The high and relatively wide cheekbones of this work shown here are the characteristics of the Buddhist sculptures from the Goryeo dynasty. The elaborate crown and various jewelry also resemble in the depictions of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara paintings from Goryeo dynasty.
For a similar gilt-bronze figure from the same period in the collection of Musée Guimet, see Pierre Cambon, L'Art Coréen au Musée Guimet (Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2001), pl. 28; For a painting of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara from Goryeo dynasty in the collection of Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, accessible online at https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/303631?position=24