Page 46 - 2020 December 10 Christie's Paris Arts of Asia Chinese Art

DEUX EXCEPTIONNELS BODHISATTVA

EN BRONZE

Gilles Béguin
Honorary General Curator,
Former Director of the Cernuschi Museum

T he present sculpture and the following lot, both large and
are
some
impressively
cast,
important
Tibetan
most
of
the
sculptures ever sold by the esteemed dealer of Asian art, William
H. Wolff, whose gallery was based in New York. One was first published in
1977 in the catalogue of the exhibition Dieux et Démons de l'Himalaya (fig.1.)
that I curated in the Grand palais which took place in 1977 (25 March-
27 June).
Both figures were correctly attributed by Ulrich von Schroeder in his
seminal 1981 tome, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes (fig.2.). One of the figures depicts
the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, with his right hand shown in the gesture
of charity, varadamudra. He is further identified by the antelope head that
is draped over the proper left shoulder, in this case depicted in a somewhat
stylized representation. The other figure depicts the bodhisattva, Vajrapani,
who would have held a vajra, or thunderbolt, upright in the proper right hand
in front of the chest (although the vajra is currently missing, the attachment
prong at the center of the torso is still visible).
It is likely the present two bronzes were once part of a larger group depicting
the Eight Great Bodhisattvas, a grouping that became popular with the rise
of Mahayana Buddhism. In Tibetan monasteries, these figures would have Béguin, Gilles et alii, Dieux et Démons de l’Himâlaya. Paris : RMN,
1977. ©DR
typically been arranged along the side walls of the assembly room. See, for
example, a grouping of the Eight Great Bodhisattvas at Sera Monastery,
near Lhasa, illustrated by U. von Schroeder in Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet,
vol. II, Hong Kong, 2001, p. 948-949. The current works display many features that are characteristic of the art of
Western Tibet from eleventh to thirteenth centuries: the diadem composed
of foliate finials emerging from semi-circular lotus motifs, and the squarish
face with conjoined eyebrows and hooked nose. Also typical of this period
is the triangular torso with geometrical musculature, with the navel marked
by crossing folds. These characteristics can be traced to the influence of
both the Kashmiri and Pala sculptural styles. Compare the present works
with an example in the Pritzker Collection, illustrated by P. Pal in Himalayas:
An Aesthetic Adventure, Berkeley, 2003, p. 135, cat. no. 85. See, also, an
example from the John D. Rockefeller III Collection at Asia Society New
York, illustrated by P. Pal, ibid., p. 135, cat. no. 86. Finally, compare with an
example at the Musée des Arts Asiatiques-Guimet in Paris, illustrated by G.
Béguin in L'Inde et le monde indianisé au Musée national des Arts Asiatiques
– Guimet, Paris, 1992, p. 132.
LITTERATURE:
Béguin, Gilles and alii, Dieux et Démons de l’Himâlaya. Paris : RMN, 1977,
p. 89 et 91, n°47 (fig.1.).
Schroeder, Ulrich von, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes. Hong Kong : Visual Dharma
Publications Ltd., 1981, p. 131, n° 22 C et D (fig.2.).
COMPARISONS:
Béguin, Gilles, L’Inde et le monde indianisé au Musée national des Arts
asiatiques-Guimet, Paris : R.M.N., 1992.
Pal, Pratapaditya, Himalayas, An Aesthetic Adventure, Chicago: The Art
Institute of Chicago – Berkeley : The University of California Press –
Ahmendabad: Mapin Publishing, 2003.
Schroeder, Ulrich von, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Hong Kong: Visual
Dharma Publications Ltd., 2001 (2 vol.).
fig.1.

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