Description: Ink, gouache and gesso on linen
China, Yuan – Ming Dynasty
This remarkably lively painting stands in the tradition of Buddhist imagery, best known from wall paintings and silks from around the Tang dynasty (618-907) preserved in the Dunhuang cave temples of Gansu province, which lived on particularly in North China in the Song (960-1279), Jin (1115-1234) and early Ming (1368-1644) periods in form of temple frescoes. The technique of using gesso relief highlights is already found in the Mogao Grottoes of Dunhuang and became popular for Song dynasty wooden sculptures and Jin dynasty wall paintings.
This painting features a group of six Apsara or Feitian standing atop of clouds and in the foreground is dense leafage as well as a censer. In the back we see the entrance to a terrace, a tree and a vessel from which a cylindrical flame is emerging. The celestial maidens are shown in flowing garments and wear elaborate headdresses. They hold various attributes such as a canopy, lanterns or a lotus flower halberd. Lotus leaves and blossoms are repeatedly incorporated in the depiction which a majestic blossom right at the center.
The angels’ faces show an exquisite, crisp painting style with sharp, determined brush strokes, softened by graduated shading. The smooth, fleshy faces have exaggerated chubby cheeks and chin, where the skin forms soft folds, stylized lips elegantly pursed like a flower, gleaming pupils set in elongated, almond-shaped eyes with narrow ‘bags’ below and well-shaped arched brows.
Shape: Rectangular horizontal shape
Dimensions: approx. 163 x 85 cm
Condition: Overall excellent condition, consistent with its age, trimmed at the margin, some pigment loss and stains, soiling
Provenance: Old Austrian Private collection, assembled in the 1930s to early 1950s
Literature comparison: for a stucco panel of a lady, dating to the Song / Jin dynasty and showing the exact same facial features as the protagonists in the present painting, including the gesso highlighting, see Sotheby’s, CHINESE ART, 03 DECEMBER 2015 - 04 DECEMBER 2015, HONG KONG, lot 287.
元明菩薩畫像
麻布面,水墨,水粉,石膏
中國,元至明代
此繪畫生動活潑,出自佛教傳統圖像,以甘肅省敦煌石窟保存的唐代壁畫及絹畫,最廣為人知,延續至宋、金、至明代早期,在中國北部區域的寺院都是以壁畫形式出現。敦煌莫高窟遺址已可見泥塑浮雕塗金技法,且盛行於宋時木雕,及金代壁畫。
這幅畫的特點是一組六個仙女立於雲層之上,四周綠葉和烟霧環繞。在背景裏亭台曲橋、流水行雲等的點綴,仙女們穿著精緻,他們手持幡旗、傘蓋,多處可見蓮花葉和蓮花。
仙女臉部表現飽滿,風格清晰,筆觸老練,明暗層次漸進柔和。面頰豐盈,下顎柔腴,朱唇如同蓓蕾般別致,柳眉杏目,黑瞳熠熠,眉鼻相連。
長方形
尺寸:163 x 85 cm
整體狀況良好,符合年代,邊緣修剪過,褪色,有污跡
比較宋朝李嵩繪文人畫中一仕女,風格更顯柔和,面容相近然較見內斂,豐頰鮮潤,眉鼻轉折曲圓,珍珠綴髮,此絹軸現存台北國立故宮博物院,刊於《仕女畫之美》,臺北,1988年,圖版10。
奧地利私人收藏,上世紀三十年代至五十年代購入
文獻參考:一件宋金時期灰泥鏡框《菩薩畫像》上可見完全一致特徵,蘇富比《中國藝術品》,香港,2015年12月4日,287號拍品