Page 18 - 2020 September 23 Himalyan and Southeast Asian Works of Art Bonhams

607
A BRASS FIGURE OF MANJUSHRI NAMASANGITI
KURKIHAR, NORTHEASTERN INDIA, 12TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.66735
4 3/4 in. (12.1 cm) high

$50,000 - 70,000

庫基哈爾 印度東北部 十二世紀 四臂文殊菩薩銅像

This rare four-armed form of Manjushri derives from the Arya Manjushri Namasangiti Tantra
(‘Singing the Names of Manjushri’), a major teaching dating from around the 7th century that
conceives of Manjushri as the spiritual progenitor of all Tathagatas and the entire Buddhist
cosmos. Manjushri Namasangiti’s many arms convey his cosmic status, cast in a naturalistic
array. He holds a scripture before his chest, and a sword, a bow, and an arrow (missing),
weapons that symbolize the scripture’s ability to penetrate ignorance.

Stylistically, the bronze shares its distinctive flat lotus petals, physique, physiognomy, and
beaded jewelry with a two-armed bronze of Manjushri from the 12th century, excavated from
Kurkihar in Northeastern India (Sharma, The Heritage of Buddhist Pala Art, New Delhi, 2018,
p.183, fig.124). However, unlike it, the present bronze has a glossy, unexcavated patina and
remains of cold gold in the face and lapis in the hair which indicates it was carried to Tibet
in antiquity. Kurkihar was an important monastic site, where a large cache of bronzes was
discovered in 1930 and now populate the Patna Museum, Bihar. Art historically, Kurkihar
rose to prominence in the 10th-to-12th centuries, as Nalanda waned. It was also at this
time that religious developments lead to the flourishing of tantric, multiarmed deities in Pala
art. (Compare a related bronze of Hevajra sold at Holly’s Auctions, Guangzhou, 27 May
2017, lot 1048 [HAR8735]). Two of the present sculpture’s stylistic details—its large-beaded
necklace and the ‘rice-grain’ pattern in its lower garment—draw exciting links with roughly
contemporaneous sculpture of Nepal and the Khasa Malla Kingdom, known to have borrowed
elements from Pala art. For example, see a gilt bronze figure of Yogambara from Nepal, circa
13th century, sold at Bonhams, New York, 17 March 2014, lot 5.

Provenance
Astamangala Gallery, Amsterdam, 2007
Private Swiss Collection

607 (reverse)

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