Page 130 - Christie's Hong Kong Important Chinese Works Of Art May 30 2022

evolution. The soft folds in the scarf draped over the figure’s shoulders The consecration of Buddhist sculptures included an elaborate ritual
and arms and the loose pleats and folds of the garment covering the executed in accordance with canonical texts that describe the process
legs are typical of works produced in the imperial workshops during in detail. The most important part of the ritual was the placement
the Yongle period, as is the careful casting and finishing of the back. of consecratory objects within the sculpture’s interior cavity, those
In particular, gilt-bronze sculptures produced during the Yongle era objects typically including small paper sutras and prayer scrolls, glass
are celebrated for their delicacy of detail and the rich colour of their beads, textile fragments, small bronze seals, small sculptures of metal
mercury gilding. or wood, seeds, and assorted other special goods. Such dedicatory
items were believed to enliven the image and accord it religious
The formulaic, six-character inscription reading Da Ming Yongle nian efficacy; religious in nature, they are seldom dated and rarely include
shi, which is engraved at the center of the base’s flat top and which may any information that would convey insight into the sculpture’s date,
be translated “Bestowed [during the] Yongle era [of the] Great Ming”, place, or other circumstances of manufacture.
dates this sculpture to the Yongle reign (1403–1424) of the Ming
dynasty, a period of great artistic refinement in China. Engraved after The closest counterparts to this superb work are four Yongle-marked,
casting, inscriptions on such Tibeto-Chinese-style bronzes typically gilt-bronze sculptures of Vajradhara that are in collections in Tibet,
read from left to right, as seen here, and end with the verb shi, in this including one in Lhasa’s Jo khang Temple / gTsug lag khang and three
context meaning “bestow”, rather than with the verb zhi, meaning in the collection of the Potala Palace, Lhasa. The present sculpture is
“made”, which is typically seen in the imperial marks of porcelains, virtually identical to the four in Lhasa, though the latter appear slightly
lacquers, and other secular arts of the same period. different on first inspection as their faces have been cold-painted in
gold and thus are matte rather than lustrous and as their lips have
Now lost, a metal plate, probably of copper or brass, originally covered been tinted red, their eyes touched in with black and white pigments,
the hollow sculpture’s open base, concealing the interior from view and their hair coloured blue with lapis lazuli. On the Himalayan
and securing in place the dedicatory objects deposited within at the Art Resources website, Jeff Watt, a scholar and a former curator at
time of consecration. The metal plate would have rested on the small, New York’s Rubin Museum, illustrates and describes five additional
relief ledge just inside the base and would have been fixed in place by Chinese, gilt-bronze sculptures of Vajradhara that are now in private
both friction and red wax. At its center, the base plate likely sported collections, that are similar in style to the present Vajradhara, and that,
an engraved vishvavajra, or double vajra, perhaps with a stylized lotus although dating to the fifteenth century, lack imperial inscriptions
blossom at the crossing of the two arms, the design symbolically (object nos. 12441, 23125, 57394, 57396, and 57397).
shielding and protecting the sculpture and its consecratory contents.

本件的藏漢風格源於深厚的藝術傳統，可追溯至十一、十二世紀的印度東北部，而後傳至尼泊爾和西藏。元朝（1279–
1368）期間尼泊爾風格在中國的興盛，通常視為來自尼泊爾藝術家阿尼哥（1245–1306）的影響，他在1262年由喇嘛八思
巴帶領至北京。八思巴為藏傳佛教薩迦派高僧，曾任元朝開朝皇帝忽必烈（1215–1294）的帝師。阿尼哥在蒙古朝廷受
重用，任諸工匠總管兼領將作院。

雖然藏傳佛教意象早在元朝即開始出現在漢地藝術中，但西藏對漢傳佛教藝術的影響在明朝（1368–1644），尤其永樂
年間（1403–1424）更為深遠，當時朝廷推崇佛教，在世俗事務與宗教上強化與西藏的關係，甚至邀請西藏僧侶到京師
北京進行宗教儀式。西藏的影響體現在藝術美感上，從本尊比例優雅、容貌慈祥、珠寶耀眼、手勢精緻、細節豐富細膩
以及雙層扁蓮花底座可見一般。儘管西藏對中國十五世紀初（尤其在永樂和宣德（1426–1435）年間）的藝術有很關鍵
的影響，藏傳佛教在朝廷之外卻少有信奉，因此大多數此類藝術，如本件永樂刻款所示，很可能皆是為朝廷所製。

受到印度傳統的影響，此尊造像的肩寬腿長、身驅光滑，身穿薄衣並戴手環、臂鐲、腳鍊。與其形成對比的則是源於
尼泊爾及西藏傳統的大圓耳環、寬而方的臉形、高顴骨、豐滿的臉頰、雅緻的眉形。除了眾多的綠松石鑲嵌外，瑞士
蘇黎世市里特貝格博物館的十四世紀尼泊爾金剛總持像（登錄號Inv.-Nr. BA 21），代表著很可能影響了此金剛總持形
象的喜馬拉雅雕塑類型。

永樂年間製作了許多這種受尼泊爾西藏風格影響的塑像，一直持續到十五、十六世紀幾乎沒有演變。造像披巾在肩膀
和手臂上柔軟的褶皺、蓋在腿上鬆散的褶襉，以及背部的精心鑄造和處理，都常見於永樂年間御用監的作品。尤其是
永樂年間的銅鎏金塑像，以精巧的細節和水銀鎏金的鮮豔色澤著稱。

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