- Lot 227

Lot n° 227
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Estimation :
2000 - 3000 EUR
- Lot 227
CHINA - Late 18th century Bodhidharma (Or Daruma) with shoe Polychrome wood sculpture H. 181 cm Chips and jumps of material Better known as "Daruma" in Japanese culture, the story of Bodhidharma was recounted at length by Yang Xuanzhi ("The Monasteries of Luo-yang", 547). The son of a king from southern India who arrived in China in 520 AD, he is the legendary founder of the Chán (Zen) doctrine, and as such the first patriarch of Buddhism in China. His teaching was perpetuated in the famous Shaolin monastery, where we can find an iconographic representation similar to our statue, with a shoe in his hand. According to the legend, Bodhidarma sat for nine years in front of a wall, "where it is said that he remained indefinitely motionless, lost in silent meditation. After this secluded retreat, one of the most famous versions of his story relates the legendary journey he made to return to his homeland three years after his death in Lo-Yang in 529. "(The ambassador) Song Yun, having completed an imperial mission in the western lands, met Tao-Mao (Boddhidharma) on his return; he held a shoe in one hand and went off alone. Where are you going," Song Yun asked him? 'I am going to the western sky,' replied Tao-Mao, and he disappeared into the clouds..." Our Bodhidharma refers precisely to this legendary passage, barefoot standing on the waves, a shoe between his two hands. We find the iconographic elements that are usually linked to him: protruding head, bulging eyes underlined by bushy eyebrows, beard and moustache, dressed in the red monastic robe. References and similar iconographic models: - WOOTTON BUSHELL Stephen. Chinese art. Renouard & Laurens, Paris, 1910. - YI-TCHOU Tchang & HACKIN Joseph, foreword by Emile GUIMET. Chinese painting at the Guimet Museum. Paris, 1910. - Daruma with a shoe - Rodin Museum Co.00142 - Bothisdharma on the waves - British museum PDF.489
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