Page 34 - Christies Indian and Himalayan Art Sept 2015

79
AN IMPORTANT GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF BUDDHA
TIBET, 15TH CENTURY

Seated in dhyanasana on a double-lotus base with a vajra before him,
his right hand lowered in bhumisparshamudra and his left hand in
varadamudra, wearing a fowing sanghati with the borders incised on
the outside and stippled on the inside, his face with heavy-lidded eyes
and a benevolent expression fanked by long pendulous lobes, richly
gilt overall
11ƒ in. (28.8 cm.) high

$180,000-250,000

PROVENANCE:

Private collection, London, acquired by 2007

PUBLISHED:

Himalayan Art Resource (himalayanart.org), item no. 23955

Stylistically the present fgure may be related to sculpture from the Densatil
monastery, an elaborate temple complex founded in the 12th century
along the Northern banks of the Tsangpo River in Tibet. The majority of the
monastery’s buildings were destroyed during the cultural revolution of the
1960’s and 70’s and only a small percentage of the original sculpture was
salvaged. The majority of these rescued works are from the 14th century, a
time when Tibetan patronage of Newari artists was at its peak, with artists
working on Buddhist projects as far afeld as the Imperial court of China.
The commissioning of sculpture for the Densatil complex, including the
various stupas, shrines, chapels and branch monasteries surrounding the
area, continued for close to three hundred years, ending around 1500.

The present work bears considerable resemblance to sculptures of the
Buddha at Densatil which, based on some of the earliest photos taken of
the monastery while it was still intact, comprise the third tier of a tashi
gomang stupa (see: O. Czaja and A. Proser, Golden Visions of Densatil: A
Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, 2014, pp.38-39, fg.16, cat. no. 16 and p.46,
fg.21). In particular, compare with the seated Buddha on the upper right
of fg.21. Both works have distinctively rounded faces with refned features,
including small bow-shaped mouths and heavy-lidded eyes. Another early
image of Densatil shows a sculpture of Buddha with the same distinctive
drapery of the robe. Here the robe turns back on itself at the border
as it drapes under his proper right arm and back up over his shoulders,
providing additional coverage (ibid., pp.80-81, fg.32). Another example of
this particular treatment of the robe can be seen in a 15th century bronze
fgure of Sakyamuni Buddha from the Berti Aschmann Collection (H. Uhlig,
On the Path to Enlighenment: The Berti Aschmann Foundation of Tibetan
Art at the Museum Rietberg Zurich, 1995, pp.52-53, cat. no.52).

These unique features which place the present work in the 15th century
and suggest a possible connection to Densatil, coupled with the elegantly
modeled form and rich lustrous patina, make this sculpture an exceptional
example of early bronze casting from Tibet.