Page 24 - Christie's Inidian and HImalayan Works of Art, March 2019

PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF BARONESS EVA BESSENYEY
(LOTS 601-640 AND LOTS 719-724)

616
A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF PADMAPANI LOKESHVARA
TIBET, 17TH-18TH CENTURY
7¿ in. (18.1 cm.) high
$60,000-80,000

PROVENANCE
Sotheby’s New York, 22 March 1989, lot 282

The present fgure of Padmapani Lokeshvara is a rare and exceptional example a misunderstanding on the part of the sculptor of the original function of
of a tradition of archaism in Tibetan metal sculpture. While still a subject of such bases on Licchavi examples, which were fat bases meant to slot in to a
some scholarly debate, certain examples of older bronze Buddhist images, separately cast lotus base.
dating from as early as the Licchavi period in Nepal (circa ffth-ninth century)
and the Pala period in India (eighth-twelfth century) were reproduced by On frst appraisal, the present fgure appears to be Nepalese in origin, heavily
bronze casters in both Tibet and China, probably starting in the seventeenth infuenced by the Pala style of roughly the twelfth century. The languid pose,
century and continuing in to the nineteenth century. Such reproductions were with the incorporation of the yogic band, the tall and relatively fat chignon,
either given as gifts to Buddhist temples or dignitaries, or were worshipped in the base type, and the heavy lotus stalks at each shoulder, all are hallmarks of
their own right. In some cases, the reproduction images were as masterfully the Indian Pala style, while the thick gilding and the incorporation of turquoise
crafted as the original source works, leading to some confusion when at the lotus blossoms are more commonly found in Nepalese and Tibetan
assigning a date of manufacture. sculpture. Upon close inspection, however, certain details such as the knot
of the yogic band and the fnial above the chignon appear to be stylized and
In “Tibetan Sculpture Inspired by Earlier Foreign Sculptural Styles,” The Tibet baroque, and less in keeping with earlier styles. The wear of the gilding is
Journal, vol. 27, no. 1/2 (Spring and Summer 2002), David Weldon identifes also unusual – in some places it is completely intact, while on the legs, arms
a number of bronze images that were likely conspicuous recreations of and the chest, it is almost completely removed. Weldon has postulated that
earlier Nepalese and Indian sculptures. Such images follow earlier stylistic on archaistic images, wear to the gilding was induced to emulate the worn
conventions so closely that the sculptor must have been using an older appearance of older images.
image as a direct source; for example, a gilt-bronze fgure of Maitreya in the
Nyingjei Lam Collection, illustrated by David Weldon and Jane Casey Singer Compare the present fgure with a remarkably similar example in the Beijing
in The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet, London, 1999, p. 121, pl. 27, closely hews Gugong, illustrated in Zhongguo Zangchuan Fojiao Diasu Quanji, Fo Jintong
to the Licchavi style, down to the webbing between the fngers that had fallen (Collection of Tibetan Buddhist Sculpture: Buddha Images in Metal), vol. II,
out of fashion in the post-Licchavi period. While superfcially the Nyingjei Beijing, 2001, p. 171; both works share similar base types, and are virtually
Lam Maitreya seems to be an exact copy of an earlier Licchavi fgure, Weldon identical in the treatment of the hands, face, drapery and jewelry. The Palace
notes certain aspects such as the heavy drapery and overly mannered example, while dusty, also appears to have similar induced wear to the chest,
hands that belie an early date of manufacture. He also points to the base arms, and face.
of the Nyingjei Lam Maitreya, which is cast in the form of a low cushion,
Himalayan Art Resources (himalayanart.org), item no. 24470.

(back view)