JAPANESE CARVED LACQUERED WOODEN FIGURE OF PENSIVE BODHISATTVA
EDO PERIOD
Estimate: £1,000 - £1,500
Auction: 16 May 2025 from 09:00 BST
Description
江戶 漆木雕彌勒半跏思惟像
shown with Maitreya seated with his right leg crossed over his left, and fingers of his right hand gently touching his cheek, known as the pensive pose, with traces of red lacquer
Dimensions
25cm high
Provenance
Private English collection, London, acquired from New York in 2013; formerly from the Estate of Denys Sutton (1917-1991)
Footnote
The Pensive Bodhisattva became popular in Japan and Korea in the sixth and seventh centuries, influenced particularly by prototypes in Chinese Buddhist art of the mid-sixth century. In Japan and Korea, bodhisattvas in the ‘pensive pose’ are usually identified as Maitreya (Japanese: Miroku Bosatsu; Korean: Mireuk).
Compare to a large carved and lacquered red pine wood figure of Bodhisattva in pensive pose, of which its origin is still debated between Japan and Korea, dated to the 7th century, is preserved and displayed in Kōryūji Temple in Kyoto, Japan, object no. EXH29: Japan NT Kōryūji. A Korean gilt-bronze Bodhisattva in pensive pose, highly similar in style to the Kōryūji Temple example, dated to the Silla kingdom, late 6th-early 7th century, is in the National Museum of Korea, National Treasure 83. Another related gilt-bronze figure of Pensive Bodhisattva, of Korean origin, dated to mid-7th century, is in the Metropolitan Museum, object no. 2003.222.