A MASSIVE JAPANESE BRONZE FIGURE OF KANNON BOSATSU

A MASSIVE JAPANESE BRONZE FIGURE OF KANNON BOSATSU
MEIJI ERA, 19TH/20TH CENTURY

The impressive and heavy Bodhisattva of Compassion depicted standing, barefoot and with long flowing robes revealing her chest, with bejewelled necklaces with malachite inlays and an elaborated headdress; the hands depicted in kichijo-in and an-i-seppo-in; with a long inscription at the back reading as 'Kozuke no kuni, Nitta, Kanayama jo sanroku, Mannen san Sogen-ji, Minamoto Yoshisada kufu su' (Donated by Minamoto Yoshisada, the Sogen-ji Temple of the Mannen mountain, located at the foot of Kanayama Castle, Nitta, Kozuke Province)', 95cm.

Provenance: a private collection; purchased from Christie's Amsterdam, 13th October 1998, lot 95, previously in the collection of Kasteel de Haar near Utrecht, The Netherlands.

The votive inscription is a reference to Minamoto Yoshisada (Nitta Yoshisada, 1301-38), a samurai lord and head of the Nitta clan who, in 1333, led the attack that overthrew the Kamakura Shogunate. The Sogen-ji Temple is a historical temple in Ota, Gunma, founded in 1188 by the Nitta clan.

Baroness Hélène de Rothschild (1863-1947) married Baron Etienne van Zuylen van Nijevelt van De Haar in 1887. She became closely involved with the massive, twenty-year rebuilding of Kasteel de Haar, a major castle near Utrecht he had inherited, which was a ruin at the time. The interiors were furnished to her taste, including many valuable items donated from Rothschild collections, such as Chinese and Japanese porcelain, old master paintings, and Flemish tapestries. The contents of Kasteel de Haar were sold at Christie's in 1998. The sale was a notable event in the art and antiques world, reflecting the long and rich history of the castle and the prominent families who owned it.