Page 86 - Himalayan Art Macrh 19 2018 Bonhams

Fig.1 Fig.2
Guhyamanjuvajra Vajrabhairava yab-yum
Tibet, 16th century Tibet, 16th century
Height 25.5 cm Height 24 cm
Museum Rietberg, Zurich (BA 113) Museum Rietberg, Zurich (BA 114)

A number of pieces in museum and private collections have long Whereas scholars have debated whether most of these sculptures
been regarded as similar, but can now be positively attributed to should be dated to the 15th or 16th century, the Jamchen
Sonam Gyaltsen given their obvious conformity to the aforementioned Avalokiteshvara is the linchpin that finally allows us to reattribute
indicators of his work, underscored by the Jamchen Avalokiteshvara’s them with relative certainly to a concurrent timeframe. What
inscription. is more, the group of sculptures mentioned above could well
have appeared together in their original context as part of the
Chief among these are: same sculptural mandala, or as part of Jamchen monastery’s
• A Guhyamanjuvajra and a Vajrabhairava, formerly of the Pan Asian broader sculptural program. The Avalokiteshvara, being more
and Berti Aschmann Collections, now in the Rietberg Museum (Figs.1 than double the size of the any comparable piece, and bearing
& 2; Uhlig, On the Path to Enlightenment, Zurich, 1995, pp.168-71, the only dedicatory inscription known to date, very likely stood at
nos.113 & 114); the center of a chapel’s ensemble. This would also be congruent
• A Yamantaka in the JPHY Collection, published in von Schroeder, with Avalokiteshvara’s central position within the Tibetan Buddhist
Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p.451, no.123E, which pantheon and cosmic form represented here.
most closely matches the present sculpture’s double lotus base with
engraved design;
• A Ghuyasamaja in The Qing Palace Collection of the Palace
Museum, Beijing, published in Complete Collection of the Treasures of
the Palace Museum, 60: Buddhist Statues of Tibet, Hong Kong, 1998
p192, no.183;
• A Purnabhadra in The Philadelphia Museum of Art (acc.#2001-44-1);
• A Chakrasamvara preserved in Tibet, published in von Schroeder,
Buddhist Sculpture in Tibet, Vol. II, Hong Kong, 2001, p.964, no.232A;
• Another Chakrasamvara, sold by Bonhams, New York, 16 March
2015, lot 18;
• A Mahachakra Vajrapani also within this sale (lot 3034).

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