A grey limestone stone torso of a bodhisattva


Tang Dynasty Gracefully carved standing sensuously in a pronounced tribhanga pose with left hip leaning out to the side and the right knee slightly bent, the voluptuous body adorned with a clinging diaphanous dhoti, tied at the chest, pleated at the front and falling in graceful folds over the legs, the elaborate necklace encircling the neck crisply carved with floral medallions and lozenges hanging from plaited and beaded chains, mounted. 73cm (28 6/8in) high.
|唐 石灰岩菩薩身像Provenance: An Italian private collection 來源： 意大利私人收藏The dynamic posture of the present figure, conveying a sense of movement through a particular posture known as tribhangha, where more weight of the body is placed on one leg to cause the opposite hip to angle upwards, is a classic example of Buddhist sculpture modelled during the Tang dynasty. This naturalistic pose, further emphasised by the elegant rendering of the thin garments, gently clinging to the contours of the body and embellished with beaded jewellery, was formerly employed to depict bodhisattvas in Central Asia and India, before it became absorbed into Tang China.Compare with a similar stone figure of a bodhisattva illustrated by O.Siren, Kinas Kunst Under Tre Artusenden, vol.2, Stockholm, 1943, fig.73A. A similar grey stone figure of a bodhisattva, Tang dynasty, was sold at Christie's New York, 21 September 2004, lot 134.