Natural Rootwood Figure of Standing Bodhidharma

Root wood.
China.
Qing dynasty 18th/19th century. H: 12cm D: 6cm.

The undulating knobby surface is modelled resembling a standing figure of Bodhidharma wearing a high cowl framing his face, his long robe drapes around his body. The rich caramel-brown wood grows around a stone which forms the face. Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk, possibly from Central Asia or India, in the 5th-6th century who is believed to be the first transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China.

Favoured by the literati, these objects of contemplation embodied the scholars intellectual curiosity and their affinity to nature.

• A similar rootwood sculpture but of a different Buddhist figure, ‘Guanyin’, was sold in Christies, H.K 2019