A LARGE CAST IRON HEAD OF A DAOIST DEITY, MING DYNASTY
This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve

Published: Jean-Paul Desroches (ed.) et al, Two Americans in Paris. A Quest for Asian Art, Paris, 2016, p. 112, no. 209.

Exhibited:
1. Pointe-à-Callière Museum, From the Lands of Asia. The Sam and Myrna Myers Collection, Montréal, 17 November 2016-19 March 2017.
2. Kimbell Art Museum, From the Lands of Asia. The Sam and Myrna Myers Collection, Fort Worth, Texas, 4 March-19 August 2018.

China, 1368-1644. Finely cast, the oval face with full cheeks, downcast eyes below arched brows, and full bow-shaped lips forming a calm smile, flanked by pendulous earlobes, the hair finely combed into a stylized chignon, crowned with a ceremonial headdress.

Provenance: Collection of Han Coray (1880-1974), Zurich and Agnuzzo, Switzerland. The Collection of Sam and Myrna Myers, Paris, France, acquired from the above on 7 October 1974. Han Coray (1880-1974) was a Swiss educator, art dealer, and important collector of African art. While serving as a school principal and running an avant-garde gallery in Zurich during World War I, he first encountered African art. After marrying into wealth in 1919, he began collecting seriously, acquiring works from Parisian dealers like Paul Guillaume, an early expert in African art and culture, and a mutual friend of Romanian poet and performer Tristan Tzara. Coray assembled a celebrated collection that included European art from the 15th to 18th centuries and over 2,000 pieces of African art, making him Switzerland’s first major collector in this field. He established a private museum, envisioning it as a universal museum of human art. Following his wife’s death in 1928, he sold much of the collection to public institutions and private buyers. From 1930, he lived in Agnuzzo, where he established a hotel named Casa Coray, where he housed his old and newly acquired works, remaining devoted to art collecting throughout his life.
Condition: Extensive wear and casting irregularities. Obvious losses, cracks, repairs, fills, signs of weathering, encrustations, and corrosion.

Dimensions: Height 38 cm (excl. stand), 47.5 cm (incl. stand)

With an associated wood stand. (2)

This icon wears a ceremonial headdress which would have been made of leather straps assembled on a bamboo support tied with bands, a type of headdress reserved for nobility. Its position in the hierarchy of the pantheon is indicated here allegorically.

Literature comparison:
Compare two closely related cast iron heads of Daoist deities, dated to the Ming dynasty, 31.7 and 55.9 cm high, in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, object numbers B60S97 and B60S96.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 18 December 2007, lot 467
Price: USD 11,875 or approx. EUR 15,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A large Chinese cast iron head of a Daoist deity, Ming dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, manner of casting, and subject. Note the size (45.8 cm).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s Amsterdam, 31 October 2000, lot 100
Price: NLG 87,765 or approx. EUR 71,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A fine Chinese, Ming dynasty, iron head of Buddha Sakyamuni, circa 15^th century
Expert remark: Compare the related modeling and manner of casting. Note the size (45 cm) and different subject.