Japan, c. 1600, late Momoyama (1573-1600) to early Edo period (1615-1868)

Carved from cypress wood and assembled in yosegi-zukuri technique, the bodhisattva standing on a lotus dais supported on an elaborate tiered hexagonal pedestal carved with foliate, diapered, prunus, and cloud designs. The bodhisattva is wearing long flowing robes draped over both shoulders and with deeply carved folds. The right hand is held in semui-in (abhaya mudra) while the left holds two gilt-metal lotus blossoms borne on long stems. The serene face with heavy-lidded eyes below gently arched brows, centered by a glass or rock crystal byakugo (urna), further with full lips forming a subtle smile, flanked by long pierced pendulous earlobes. The hair piled in a topknot and adorned with a hokan (jeweled crown) and munakazari (ornamental necklace). The base inset with a flattened post surmounted by a circular halo.

HEIGHT 89 cm

Condition: Good condition with some wear, minor age cracks, small losses, minor flaking to lacquer, small chips. Rich, dark patina.
Provenance: Kyoto Gallery, Brussels, 21 March 2009. Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris, acquired from the above. Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert were luminous gallery owners who worked in Paris from 1975 to 2004, and were both informed and avant-garde collectors. They are significant not only because of the analytical and original approach the couple applied in each acquisition, but also because of their visionary take on exhibiting the most radical 20th-century art in their gallery, which was the subject of a 2004 retrospective organized by the Museum of Grenoble. According to Michel Durand-Dessert, who was inspired to open the couple’s first gallery by a visit to Documenta in 1968, “it is certain that a collection is a portrait, and that the objects we buy are those in which we sometimes recognize ourselves, sometimes we project ourselves. One way or another, acquiring them means adopting them, in every sense of the word.” An expertise from Kyoto Gallery, dated 21 March 2009, written and signed by Tony Cammaert, confirming the dating above, and stating a value for the present lot of 10,500 EUR, accompanies this lot.

Yosegi-zukuri, or joined wood-block construction, is a sculpting method in which several rectangular blocks of wood are individually selected and carved into shapes. Yosegi-zukuri, together with ichiboku-zukuri (single block construction), are the two main techniques associated with wood sculpture in Japan. There were several advantages to a sculpture made from multiple blocks of wood. It was much lighter than one carved out of a single block of wood. The technique also helped to minimize the cracking of the wood caused by the outside layer drying faster than the core of the sculpture.

Auction comparison:
Compare a related wood figure of Kannon, dated to the Nanbokucho period, 14^th century (with an amendment stating that the dating “could be as late as early Muromachi period (15^th century)”, at Bonhams, 18 March 2015, New York, lot 3107 (sold for 27,500 USD).