Chinese Carved Wood Monkey Face, Sun Wukong Type, Fluorite Eyes

East Asia, China. A carved wooden face of a scowling simian figure, its features and dress closely recalling Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. The deep-set eyes are inset with polished cabochons of green fluorite that catch the light beneath a heavy, furrowed brow. The carver worked the cheeks and muzzle in fine stippling to suggest fur, and gave the creature a flattened nose and a tightly pursed mouth. A narrow fillet circles the forehead, perhaps the golden band that kept the unruly Monkey in check. Above it rises an elaborate theatrical headdress: a full-blown lotus, tiers of beaded pompoms, and a tall pointed crest, with a tufted ornament at one temple. Long strands of hair fall at either side, framing the face in the manner of a wall plaque or architectural ornament. Sun Wukong is the irrepressible hero of "Journey to the West," the 16th-century novel generally attributed to Wu Cheng'en. Born from a stone egg on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, the Monkey learns the arts of transformation from a Daoist master and makes himself "Great Sage Equal to Heaven." His rampage through the celestial court ends only when the Buddha traps him beneath a mountain. He is freed on condition that he guard the monk Tang Sanzang on his pilgrimage to India to retrieve Buddhist scriptures. To keep him obedient, the bodhisattva Guanyin gives the monk a golden fillet for the Monkey's head, which tightens painfully whenever a certain sutra is recited. That band became one of the character's defining attributes. The headdress here draws on the visual language of Chinese opera. In Peking opera the Monkey King is among the most beloved roles, played with acrobatic flair, a stylized simian face, and an ornate crown of pompoms and upright plumes. The lotus at the center of this headdress fits the Buddhist frame of the pilgrimage story. Fluorite (calcium fluoride) occurs in a wide range of colors, and its green varieties have long served as an affordable stand-in for jade and other green stones in Chinese decorative carving. Set as eyes, the polished green stones give the face a watchful, unsettling glint well suited to a trickster who was never entirely tamed. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 206049

Estimación:€179.71

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