Page 50 - Blum Feinstein Tanka collection HIMALAYAN Art Bonhams March 20 2024

Standing well over a meter tall is this impressively sized representation of Maitreya,
the Buddha of the Future, who can be identified by the stupa adorning the front
his hair and the silver kundika, or water pot, blossoming from a flower by his
left shoulder. The inclusion of a silver dharmic wheel by his right shoulder likely
foreshadows a prophecy dating back to China’s earliest phase of Buddhism.
According to legend, Maitreya is destined to bring forth a new age of enlightenment
and Buddhist teachings following a cataclysmic period known as the Latter Day of
the Law, and will once again turn the Wheel of the Dharma.

Cast with a handsome face and embellished with parcel gilding to form striking
contrasts between the ornamentation and the silvery patina of the upper torso,
this statue displays a number of characteristics that suggest its attribution to the
Dolonnor ateliers of Inner Mongolia. Well known for their metalworking techniques
involving the use of repoussé to hammer sheets of copper, these workshops
catered to the rapid expansion of Tibetan Buddhist temples along the border
regions of the Qing empire, particularly under the Qianlong Emperor (1736-95).
The present lot was most likely produced under his reign, wherein Dolonnor
became a major center of production to meet the sudden demand for sculpture
and ritual objects to adorn these temples. Indicative of the Qing Dolonnor style
include the figure’s rounded chin and the soft silhouette of his torso, drawing
close comparison to a silver-gilt figure of Amitayus published in, Chiang & Jiang,
Buddhist Art from Rehol, 1999, p.59, no. 9. Close comparisons can also be seen
in a Qianlong period parcel-gilt Tara in the Qing Court Collection with contrasting
matt and burnished gold, see Ben She Yi Ming, Buddhist Statues of Tibet, Hong
Kong, 2003, p. 258, cat. no. 247, and compare iconographic elements, sculptural
detail and style of a large Qing dynasty gilt bronze standing Maitreya in Christopher
Bruckner, Chinese Imperial Patronage: Treasures from Temples and Palaces, Asian
Art , Vol. I, 1999, pp. 46-47, cat. no. 12.

Other notable characteristics, such as the present work’s large hooped earrings,
and the double-bun coiffure, symmetrical scarf ends, and sense of frontality are
shared by other images from Dolonnor. Compare with a Qing Maitreya at 66 cm
high sold in Sotheby’s, Paris, 15 December 2022, lot 31 and another Maitreya,
measuring at 56 cm, sold in Christie’s, New York, 3 October 1990, lot 158, while
another bodhisattva figure at 85 cm sold in Bonhams, New York, 17 March 2014,
lot 27. Two other figures at 99 and 100 cm, depicting the eleven-faced form of
Avalokiteshvara, also shares a similar frontal posture and rendering of the scarf
with the present lot, see Christie’s Amersterdam, 18 October 1995, lot 339 and
in the Museum fur Volkerkunde, Munich (Richtsfeld et. Al., Kunst des Buddhismus,
1992, p. 174, no. 64).

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