An important gilt-bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara, Dali Kingdom, Yunnan province, 11th / 12th century | 十一 / 十二世紀 大理國 鎏金銅觀世音菩薩坐像

Auktionsverket, Stockholm, 18th - 21st April 1989, Lot 924.

Thence by family descent.

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Auktionsverket，斯德哥爾摩，1989年4月18至21日，編號924，此後家族傳承

This extraordinary eleven-headed and sixteen-armed esoteric aspect of the bodhisattva Guanyin (Skt. Avalokiteshvara) is seated with legs crossed in the ‘noble posture’ (sattvaparyankasana). He wears a long skirt tied at the waist and a sash draped over the naked torso, and is adorned with strings of beads and sumptuous jewelled pendants. His three principal heads are crowned, with the remaining eight heads towering above representing stages on the path to enlightenment. His hands hold a panoply of ritual implements as aids to salvation including a bowl and willow branch, the symbols of healing, a holy water pot (kalasha), a lotus flower (padma) – one of Avalokiteshvara’s primary attributes – and rosary beads (mala) in the lowered left hand. His principal hands are clasped together before his chest in a gesture of salutation (anjali mudra), two hands are folded together in his lap in the posture of meditation and the lowered right hand makes the wish fulfilling gesture (varada mudra).

Multi-armed and -headed seated figures of Avalokiteshvara from the Dali kingdom are generally depicted with legs crossed in the ‘noble posture’ (sattvaparyankasana), where one leg rests on top of the other, rather than the more common yogic posture (vajraparyankasana) seen in Tibetan examples where the legs are crossed at the ankle with the soles of both feet visible. The seated posture is similar to another eleven-headed and sixteen-armed Dali gilt bronze Guanyin sold at Hanhai Hong Kong, The Merciful Buddha II, 5th October 2016, lot 117; and a multi-armed and single-headed Dali gilt bronze Guanyin in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, with remarkably similar physiognomy and crown band motif (fig. 1). The Metropolitan figure is cast in arsenical bronze and with such close stylistic similarities it is likely that this example was cast in the same metal, perhaps at the same foundry. Facial characteristics and the lobed design of the bowl held in the raised left hand are also remarkably similar to those of a rare four-armed Dali gilt bronze Guanyin sold in our London rooms, 1st November 2023, lot 118. The bronze has a lacquer finish over the mercury gilding, now blackened through oxidation. This lacquer was originally applied to enhance the richness of the gilding and is a common tradition in Dali sculpture seen, for instance, on the Acuoye Guanyin in the San Diego Museum dated to between 1147-1172; and the twelfth century seated Buddha in the Shanghai Museum, dated to 1163.

This rare gilt-bronze Buddhist figure of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara holds a unique place in the development of Chinese Buddhist sculpture. Figures from the Chinese Southwest are remarkable in their independent idiosyncratic style, their grace and serenity and – while other similar depictions of Avalokiteshvara from this period are known – surviving examples are mostly rendered standing with remarkable stylistic consistency. To find a seated sculpture, especially in this tantric form, is extremely rare.

Figures of this extraordinary type can be attributed to the southwestern part of China – today's Yunnan province – and speak to the region's historical independence from China for over 500 years, under the Nanzhao (750-902) and later the Dali (937-1253) kingdoms. Buddhism had been established as state religion in the area by the last Nanzhao ruler, and while the religion was facing multiple challenges in China's heartland under the Song dynasty (960-1279), it flourished in China's southwest, as it did in the northeast under the Liao (907-1125). Inheriting the faith from the Nanzhao, Buddhism in the Dali kingdom gradually developed between 937 and 1253 into a distinct interpretation of the Mahayana faith, focused on devotion to bodhisattvas including the Acuoye Guanyin (known as 'Luck of Yunnan') – an emblematic tutelary deity unique to Dali culture. When the Duan family came to power in Yunnan in 937, they proactively used the religion to support the legitimacy of their rulership. They named their kingdom Dali, 'Great Ruling Principle', a term with Buddhist connotations, which they claimed had been selected for the kingdom by the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara himself. Azhali (or Ajali) Buddhism – a special form of Vajrayana Buddhism that seems unique to Yunnan – soon took hold in the region, with an Avalokiteshvara cult at its centre, which worshipped the bodhisattva with greater significance than even the Buddha. According to John Guy, the straight frontal representation of these figures confirms their placement in a central position in a temple, rather than on either side of the Buddha, as was common for bodhisattva figures in the preceding Tang dynasty (618-907), where they are clearly depicted as supporting sculptures flanking a main image, with the body swaying and slightly turned [1].

Yunnanese gilt-bronze bodhisattva figures are distinctive through their physical characteristics of a very slender built with prominent shoulders; a style that appears to have been already clearly developed by at least the 10th century. This type of depiction also features prominently in an highly important handscroll, Fanxiang juan (Scroll of Buddhist Images) by the painter Zhang Shengwen (active 1163-89), now preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, portraying one of the Dali kings, Duan Zhixing (r. 1172-1200), and his courtiers in the 1170s(fig. 3). The Dali Buddhist pantheon included peaceful multi-armed gods such as the present example, envisioned as meditation deities, and wrathful multi-armed guardians of the faith (fig. 2).

The present figure is particularly remarkable for its incorporation of tantric imagery. The tantric practice of esoteric vajrayana Buddhism, that originated in eastern India during the Pala period (8th-12th century), was clearly also widespread in the region and evidenced by the many unearthed tantric thunderbolt sceptres (vajra) and ritual daggers (kila), now preserved in the Yunnan Provincial Museum, Kunming. With its idiosyncratic iconography, the sculptural style of Dali figures is truly distinct from neighbouring Buddhist cultures in China and Tibet. Indeed, Dali statues of Acuoye Guanyin appear to have been influenced from the south by the artistic traditions of Yunnan’s neighbouring kingdom of Champa in present-day Vietnam, themselves based on styles imported from southern India via Indonesia.

[1] John Guy, 'The Avalokitesvara of Yunnan and Some South East Asian Connections', in Rosemary Scott and John Guy, eds, South East Asia and China: Art, Interaction and Commerce, Colloquies on Art and Archaeology in Asia, no. 17, Percival David Foundation, London, 1994, p. 76.

此尊非凡的觀音菩薩造像展現其密教形象：十一面十六臂，結「聖跏趺坐」——雙腿交叉，一足置於另一足之上。菩薩身著長裙，腰間束帶，上身袒露披掛帛巾，佩戴串珠與華麗寶飾。其三面主尊頭戴寶冠，其餘八面高高疊起，象徵修行過程中的各階段覺悟。菩薩諸手持法器以助度世，包括象徵療癒的淨瓶與楊柳枝、寶瓶、蓮花──觀音最具代表性的法器之一以及左下手所執的念珠。主手合掌於胸前行「合掌印」，象徵敬禮；另有雙手於腹前結「禪定印」；右下手施「予願印」，象徵滿願賜福。

大理國的多面多臂觀音坐像普遍結「聖跏趺坐」，即單足疊於另一足之上，此與藏傳佛教中雙足交叉、腳底外露之「金剛跏趺坐」有所不同。此坐姿與2016年10月5日於香港翰海拍賣《我佛慈悲 II》中拍品117號十一面十六臂鎏金觀音極為相似，亦與紐約大都會藝術博物館所藏一尊單面多臂觀音造像相近，其面部特徵與寶冠帶圖樣幾可對照（圖一）。大都會館藏尊像為砷青銅所鑄，風格高度一致，因此推測本尊亦可能採相同合金，甚至出自同一鑄坊。此尊所持瓣形缽與倫敦蘇富比2023年11月1日拍賣之第118號四臂觀音造像亦十分相似。本尊表面覆以朱漆於汞鎏金之上，經年氧化轉為黑色，此漆層原本用以增強金色光澤，為大理造像中常見工藝，如見於聖地牙哥藝術館中約1147至1172年的阿嵯耶觀音造像，以及上海博物館所藏刻有1163年銘文的十二世紀佛像。

本尊珍罕的大理鎏金觀音在中國佛教雕塑發展中具有獨特地位。中國西南地區的佛像以其獨特風格、莊嚴與寧靜而著稱。雖然同時期亦有其他觀音造像傳世，惟多為站姿，風格一致。如此具密教意象且為坐姿者，實屬罕見。

此類非凡的造像可歸屬於今日中國雲南地區，反映出其在南詔（750–902）與大理國（937–1253）統治下長達五百餘年的獨立歷史。南詔最後一位君主即奉佛教為國教，而大理國更是承繼其信仰並發揚光大。當佛教在宋代（960–1279）中原地區面臨重重挑戰時，佛法在西南地區（如大理）與東北（如遼國）卻依然蓬勃發展。大理國自南詔傳承佛教信仰，逐漸發展出具地方特色的大乘佛教體系，重視對菩薩的崇拜，尤以「雲南之福」阿嵯耶觀音為代表性守護神。段氏自937年執掌雲南政權後，積極利用佛教強化統治合法性，並以具佛教意涵的「大理」（意為「大治」）為國號，據說即由觀音菩薩所賜。大理地區很快發展出一種特有之密教形式——阿吒力教（Azhali 或 Ajali Buddhism），以觀音崇拜為核心，其地位甚至超越佛陀[1]。

根據學者 John Guy 所言，此類觀音造像的正面直立造型顯示其原為寺廟主尊，安置於中央，而非如唐代（618–907）多作為主尊兩側陪像，姿態稍傾、呈側身之態。

雲南地區的鎏金觀音造像特徵明顯，體態纖細、肩膀寬闊，這種風格於10世紀即已成型。這種造型在畫師張勝溫（活躍於1163–1189）繪製之《梵像卷》中亦有體現。此卷現藏於台北國立故宮博物院，描繪大理王段智興（在位1172–1200）與群臣，卷中菩薩神像面貌與造型與本像極為相似。大理佛教體系中，既有如本像般作為冥想本尊之多臂寧靜神祇，也有作為護法的忿怒神（圖二）。

本尊另一顯著特色為其明顯融合密教意象。密教（金剛乘）起源於印度東部波羅王朝（8至12世紀），於大理亦廣泛傳播，從雲南出土之金剛杵與金剛橛等法器可見一斑，今多藏於昆明雲南省博物館。大理造像之圖像風格獨立於中國與西藏佛教體系，自成一格。大理觀音，特別是阿嵯耶觀音，明顯受南方鄰國占婆（今越南中南部）佛教藝術風格影響，而占婆本身則受南印度與印尼之佛教藝術影響，形成一條跨文化藝術傳承路徑。

[1] John Guy，〈The Avalokitesvara of Yunnan and Some South East Asian Connections〉，收錄於 Rosemary Scott 與 John Guy 編，《South East Asia and China: Art, Interaction and Commerce》，亞洲藝術與考古學座談系列，第17輯，倫敦 Percival David Foundation，1994年，頁76。