Beschreibung:

PROPERTY OF A LADYA Massive and imposing Spinach-green jade figure of Guanyin1850-1910 Standing in flowing robes open at the upper chest to reveal simple jewelry, the figure clutching a lingzhi spray and ruyi-head scepter in both hands across her waist, her hair tied in a high topknot with ruyi-headed hairpin. 29 1/2in (75cm) high; double lotus-lappet wood standFootnotes1900 年前後 碧玉觀音立像 配木座 Provenance: Christie's London, 12 October 1950, lot 121, formerly the property of the Empress Eugenie The Graham Collection, London, 12 October 1950 and thence by direct descent to the present owner, a private English collector in the US., 1970's to the present day. Published: The Times, London, 13 October 1950, a column in the paper relating to various jades in the Christie's sale including this figure of Guanyin from Princess Eugenie which sold to the present owners father (Graham) at 250 Guinea's, a huge price in 1950. 出處： 倫敦佳士得 1950 年 10 月 12 日，拍品第 121 號，法國 Eugenie 皇后藏 倫敦 The Graham Collection, 1950 年 10 月 12 日，後由現任藏家之家族傳承，美國英裔私人收藏，1970 年代至今 出版記錄： 倫敦時報，1950 年 10 月 13 日，玉器專題報導，現任藏家的父親以 250 法郎買下此碧玉觀音，在當時是非常高的價格。 Empress Eugenie (María Eugenia Ignacia Agustina de Palafox y Kirkpatrick) was born in 1826 and lived to 94 years of age, living through much of the 19th century and another twenty years of the twentieth century. She was named Empress of France after her marriage to Emperor Napoleon III on 30 January 1853, losing the title after the Emperor was overthrown on 4 September 1870. Born to Spanish nobility, Eugénie was educated in France, Spain, and England. Napoléon and Eugénie had one child together, Napoléon, Prince Imperial (1856–79). After the fall of the Empire, the three lived in exile in England; Eugénie outlived both her husband and son and spent the remainder of her life working to commemorate their memories and the memory of the Second Empire. Eugénie was very interested in politics and became devoted to the Bonapartist cause, under the influence of a former mistress of Louis Napoléon. Her mother's role as a lavish society hostess, opened up many channels for her in the upper reaches of the political world. She first met Prince Louis Napoléon at a reception at the Élysée Palace in 1849. They married in 1853. That he trusted her consultation is clear. She acted as regent during his short absences in 1859, 1865 and 1870, to visit his soldiers on the battlefield. In 1863, the Empress established a museum of Asian art the Musée Chinois at the Palace of Fontainebleau. She carefully curated the displays of her museum, constituting diplomatic gifts given to her by embassy's from around the world. In 1870, after the overthrow of her husband, she joined her family in exile in England and, after the death of her husband (1873), continued to play a crucial role in Bonapartist political activities. When her son died (1879), she assumed the role of the grande dame in exile. After World War I, Eugenie lived long enough to see the collapse of other European monarchies, such as those of Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary. For a more detailed account of the life of the Empress see the Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. website. A massive jadeite figure of Guanyin of just slightly more slender proportions and an inch shorter (28 1/2 inches high) in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, Accession Number: 39.65.24a, b, is illustrated on the museum website. It was also exhibited in the exhibition Another World Lies Beyond: Chinese Art and the Divine, 24 August 2019 – 5 January 2020. The sway of the figure and treatment of the hands gently manipulating an elixir amphora, rather than the ruyi-scepter of ours, are very comparable, as is the movement of the robes, the expression and the gathered top-knot held by hairpin. Even the waisted lotus petal wood stands bear comparison. Another smaller and later spinach jade figure of Guanyin was sold at Bonhams, San Francisco, 21 June 2011, lot 8094, and was clothed in flowing robes and a long mantle over her careful