AN EXCEPTIONAL JADE FIGURE OF THE ASCETIC BUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI, LATE MING TO EARLY QING DYNASTY

拍品描述

AN EXCEPTIONAL JADE FIGURE OF THE ASCETIC BUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI, LATE MING TO EARLY QING DYNASTY China, 17th to early 18th century. Depicted as an emaciated figure leaning his bearded head and both hands upon his raised left knee. The locks of hair and beard framing the downcast eyes and graceful smile. The translucent stone of a variegated dark gray and white color with beige inclusions and russet veining. Dimensions: Height 13.6 cm (excl. stand), 14.5 cm (incl. stand) With a fitted and fabric-coated stand dating from the late Qing dynasty. (2) Prince Siddhartha Gautama renounced his position and wealth at the age of 29, leaving his home to seek enlightenment. He studied under Arada Kalama, gaining 'the attainment of nothingness,' and then became a student of the master Udraka Ramaputra, learning how to suppress his desires. However, neither addressed the problem of suffering, nor could satisfy him. So, the Buddha-to-be subjected himself to harsh ascetic discipline, austerity, and severe fasting, wishing to purify and expunge all worldly desires and defilements, transcending all attachment to the physical world. According to a popular version, seeing his condition, a milkmaid mistakes him for a tree spirit and offers him some milk rice, which he accepts. Feeling revived, he embraces the ‘Middle Way’ between extreme asceticism and materialist hedonism. He then goes on to the village of Bodh Gaya where he seats himself on a bed of grass beneath a Bodhi tree and vows to remain there until he understands the means of living without suffering, pursuing enlightenment, and finally achieving Buddhahood through it. Literature comparison: Compare a related jade figure of Shakyamuni as an ascetic, dated late 19th century, in the collection of Isidore and Marianne Cohn, Jr., exhibited in the New Orleans Museum of Art, 11 October 2013 – 23 February 2014. Compare a related larger jade figure of Shakyamuni as an ascetic, dated 1860s-1930s, 26.7 cm high, in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, object number B60J13. Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Christie's London, 7 November 2014, lot 593 Price: GBP 43,750 or approx. EUR 63,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Expert remark: Compare the closely related manner of carving and subject with identical pose. Note also the similar stone.

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