Page 20 - Art D'Asie June 22, 2017 Paris
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117 The inscription on the back of the cushion-shaped base may
be translated as
COLLECTION PARTICULIÈRE FRANÇAISE
‘Homage to the Omniscient One Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso.
RARE STATUETTE DE NGAWANG LOBSANG Sarva Mangalam’
GYATSO, LE VE DALAI LAMA, EN ALLIAGE
DE CUIVRE DORÉ It identi es this gure as the fth Dalai Lama Ngawang
TIBET, XVIIE SIÈCLE Lobsang Gyatso (1617-1682), one of the most signi cant
assis en vajraparyankasana sur un double coussin brodé de gures in Tibetan political and religious history. Renowned
eurettes stylisées dans des frises losangiques ou polylobées as ‘The Great Fifth’ for his skills as a diplomat and politician,
Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso was the rst Dalai Lama to assume
et recouvert d’un textile à décor de nes eurettes et bordé both spiritual and secular leadership within a newly uni ed
d’une frise de vajra, la main droite en varada mudra et la main Central Tibet. He commissioned the construction of the Potala
gauche en kartari mudra tenant une tige de lotus eurie, palace, his headquarters and monastery, and the Lukhang, his
vêtu d’une longue et riche robe monastique nement plissée private meditation temple built within a man-made lake. He
décorée sur sa bordure de larges eurs épanouies, le visage also is credited with engineering the demise of the aristocratic
caractéristique de forme ovale et aux yeux grands ouverts, military hegemony by forcing their residency in Lhasa and
les cheveux rasés, le crâne dégarni et les oreilles décollées, bestowing key political positions upon them. Thus power was
inscription au dos sur deux lignes en tibétain dans une réserve centralized in the capital under the direct auspices of Ngawang
polylobée, la base re-scellée d’une plaque incisée et dorée d’un Lobsang Gyatso, establishing the dynastic government that
double vajra dans un double cercle au centre survived in Tibet until 1959, see Martin Brauen, The Dalai
12,8 cm, 5 in. Lamas: A Visual History, Chicago, 2005, pp. 64.
A rare gilt copper-alloy portrait gure of Ngawang This elegant gilt-bronze gure of the Great Fifth Dalai Lama
Lobsang Gyatso, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Tibet, 17th century presents a compelling portrait of the celebrated seventeenth
century Tibetan leader. Great attention has been given to this
30 000-50 000 € portrait, the distinctly recognisable face with wide eyes and
a receding hairline, as well as the imposing girth of his gure.
255 000-424 000 HK$ 32 700-54 500 US$ This portrait may be related compared to a bronze sculpture of
Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso in a similar seated position but with
di erent mudra in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston (acc. no. 50.3606), and to another gilt-bronze portrait
of Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, from the collection of Markus
Speidel, Birmensdorf, and also to the one from the Tibet
House, New York (no. inv.: 1971.267), all illustrated in Martin
Brauen, Les Dalaï Lama, Lausanne, 2005, pp. 86-87. Compare
also with another gilt-copper alloy portrait gure of the Fifth
Dalai Lama, sold at Sotheby’s New York, 13th September 2016,
lot 161.
Inscription
18 SOTHEBY’S
