A Chinese marble figure of a bodhisattva, Tang Dynasty, seated in lalitasana over a double-lotus base, the figure adorned in celestial scarves and beaded jewellery above a clinging dhoti draped over the figure's lower body, 40.5cm high, fitted box.Provenance: Ngai Tile Wave, Hong Kong, 9 April 2003 (receipt).Despite the loss of the head and the hands which would have held the identifying attributes, the bodhisattva's Royal Ease pose suggests it is Avalokiteshvara or Guanyin, the bodhisattva of Mercy. The fine detail of the carving and sensitive treatment of the body and form allude to the fine example this would have been in its complete form. With its supple body, dynamic chiasmic pose and finely carved formal drapery, the current lot can be considered an exemplar of high Tang Buddhist sculpture, with its renewal of influence from Northern India and its emphasis on the corporality of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. Stylistically this sculpture appears to belong to the same vocabulary as the important white marble torso of Buddha sold in Christies, New York, 18 Mar 2016, lot 1404.A partially preserved limestone example, exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Naples in 2005 and illustrated by Chen Yuan et al: Tang, Arte e Cultura in Cina Prima Dell’Anno Mille, Archaeological Museum, Naples, Italy, 2005, cat no. 78, pp 166-7, serves to give an idea of what the sculpture may have looked like in a more complete form. Two other examples, also lacking their heads, are illustrated by Paludan, A. Chinese Sculpture; a Great Tradition, Serinda Publications, Chicago, 2006, fig. 188, p 307; and by National Palace Museum, Taipei, The Art Of Contemplation – Religious Sculpture from Private Collections, Taipei 1997, 81, p. 187.唐 大理石觀音菩薩立像來源：2003年4月香港藝雅廊購入類似一例售於2016年3月18日紐約佳士得，拍品號1404；另一例於2005年意大利那不勒斯考古博物館展出，著錄於 Chen Yuan，《一千年前中國唐代的藝術與文化》，意大利那不勒斯考古博物館，2005，編號78，頁碼16607；又見Paludan，《中國雕塑：偉大的傳統》，瑟琳達出版社，芝加哥，2006，編號188，頁碼307；台北故宮博物院，《雕塑别藏 : 宗敎編特展圖錄》，台北，1997，編號81，頁碼187。Please refer to department for condition report