LATE YUAN/EARLY MING DYNASTY, 14TH CENTURY

The elongated waist and jewelry of this figure are suggestive of southern manufacture, quite likely Yunnan. This same slender torso and slim waist combined with a rather stiff posture appears to be a continuation of the body type seen in 12th century Dali Kingdom bronzes of Acouye Guanyin, such as the standing figure sold in these rooms, 20 September 2002, lot 193, and the seated figure of Acouye Guanyin, also Dali Kingdom and of 12th century date, in this sale, lot 170. The manner in which the dhoti is tied around the slim waist is also similar. The more elaborate jewelry, draped scarves, elaborate crown and lotus base are, however, closer to what one would see in early Ming bronzes of Yongle and Xuande date, but the body does not have the fuller, more sensuous characteristics of the Tibeto-Chinese Buddhist bronze figures. These latter characteristics can also be seen in Qingbai figures of 13th-14th century date such as those illustrated by Lee and Ho, Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yüan Dynasty (1279-1368), The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968, nos. 24-26, which clearly show a Nepalese or Indian influence.