Paris auction house Bonhams will launch a grand Chinese art sale on June 13, and one of the most eye-catching lots is a Jin Dynasty wood sculpture of the Goddess of Mercy sitting on the water moon, estimated at 800,000 to 1.2 million euros.
According to reports, this 111cm tall sitting statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva is a very rare wood carving, and it is also a religious work depicting Guanyin Bodhisattva during the Jin Dynasty in the 12th to 13th centuries.
After its last appearance, this Guanyin statue lost one finger of its hand. When sold in 1932, it was still intact, it may be due to the child playing football near the statue.
This image was originally collected by Huo Mingzhi, an antique giant of the Republic of China and the owner of Dagu Zhai, and was first recorded in the “Dagu Zhai Gu Zheng Lu”. It was released in the special auction “Collection of Beijing Huo Mingzhi: Chinese Art from Ancient Times to the 18th Century” held at the Derout Auction in Paris in 1932, with lot number 63. Also visible at the same auction was a painted Guanyin sculpture carved in wood from the Jin Dynasty, which was released again in Paris in 2022 at Bonhams.
It is reported that Bonhams auction house will hold the Paris Asian Art Week from June 9 to 16, including the Chinese art auction on the 13th. During the period, more than 100 pieces of the collection will be auctioned, bringing together various kinds of fine Buddhist art, porcelain, jade and so on.