Page 10 - Fine Asian Art, Bonhams San Francisco June 27, 2017

8008 8008
A GILT COPPER REPOUSSÉ STANDING FIGURE OF AMITAYUS
8009 Qing dynasty, 18th/19th century
Attired in elaborately rendered princely garb consisting of numerous
8 | BONHAMS separately-cast elements adorned in semi-precious cabochon inlay,
the figure depicted standing upright on a lotus plinth proffering a bowl
overflowing with swirls of crisply-cast amrita nectar.
17in (43cm) high

US$7,000 - 10,000

See the smaller figure of White Mahakala dated to the 18th century
offered at Christies New York sale of Indian and Southeast Asian Art
number 2551 of 21 March 2012 as lot 802. That standing figure was
clothed in similarly complex attire of numerous flowing diaphanous
scarves, showed an equally broad face with an engaging expression
of pigment highlighted details, and was supported upon a lotus plinth
of similar design.

8009
A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF A LAMA
The figure seated on a platform of cushions, clothed in elaborately
decorated robes, the surfaces incised with floral scroll patterns, his
right hand in Vitarka mudra, the lama wearing an unusual, broad cap
and bearing a benevolent expression with nearly closed eyes.
7 1/2 (19cm) high

US$10,000 - 15,000

In contrast to other forms of Buddhist practice throughout the
world, Tibetan tantric Buddhist culture places significant emphasis
on practitioners learning from and basing much of their religious
experience on the teachings of specific masters and as a result, the
masters themselves, including lineage holders, incarnated teachers,
or lamas, take on outsize importance as objects of veneration. For
this reason, in Tibetan Buddhist art, there exists a strong tradition
of depicting individual lamas in a very realistic manner so as to
emphasize individual physical characteristics, namely facial features,
so that illiterate practitioners may easily recognize specific lamas. In
this bronze figure, we see realism manifesting itself in a rather un-
idealized portrait of a lama, with the face displaying a very strong
jaw, unusually prominent cheekbones, a sharp nose and a deeply
creased forehead, all characteristics that depart from stylized faces in
Buddhist art, characteristics that tell us that this bronze is meant as a
realistic portrait of a historical lama. For a similarly realistic portrait of
a Buddhist master, see a gilt copper alloy figure of the first Panchen
Lama, Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen Pelzangpo, Tibet, 17th century,
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 2283, sold in our New York rooms,
13 March 2017, sale 24217, 3294.