Page 40 - 2020 September 23 Himalyan and Southeast Asian Works of Art Bonhams

618
A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF BUDDHA
TIBET OR NEPAL, CIRCA 14TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.16813
12 3/8 in. (31.5 cm) high

$80,000 - 120,000

西藏或尼泊爾 約十四世紀 銅鎏金佛陀像

This sizable gilt bronze depicts Shakyamuni Buddha with a gentle downcast expression at
the moment of his enlightened realization. His chest expands with yogic breath, adding to his
generous silhouette. His hands are well-articulated, showing a slight webbing between his
thumb and forefinger. This is one of a number of iconographic features of a supranatural being
(mahalakshana) that the artist has emphasized, in addition to the three folds across his neck,
the elongated earlobes, pronounced teardrop urna, and tall ushnisha surmounted by a wish-
fulfilling gem (cintamani). Buddha sits rooted in a meditative posture above a resplendent lotus
pedestal with a double band of petals fanning left and ran and completed in the round.

This Buddha image belongs to a 13th-/14th-century group of bronzes that have at times been
attributed to southern Tibet because of the blend of Nepalese and Tibetan stylistic preferences
they exhibit (e.g. Pal, Desire and Devotion, London, 2001, pp.284-5, no.285). Such a blend
is perhaps best exemplified by the present sculpture in its facial type, which has a broad
Nepalese forehead without the accompanying fleshy cheeks. For example, compare with a
circa 12th-century Nepalese Buddha sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 22 March 1989, lot 403.
In the present sculpture, the emphasis placed on the beauty of Buddha’s corporeal form,
wrapped in a sheer monastic garment with little patterning aside from the hems, is congruent
with Nepalese bronzes of the Early Malla Period (13th-15th centuries). However, the tall lotus
base was made for the Tibetan practice of consecrating bronzes. Yet, the red lacquer across
its back is more commonly associated with worship in Nepal. Thus the attribution to southern
Tibet seems appropriate, coupled with the fact that von Schroeder has published examples
located in monasteries near Tibet’s southern border with Nepal (von Schroeder, Buddhist
Sculptures in Tibet, Vol.II, Hong Kong, 2001, pp.958 & 962-3, nos. 229D & 231D). All the
above-mentioned comparisons share the present bronze’s distinctive teardrop urna.

Provenance
Sotheby’s, New York, 26 March 2003, lot 48
Paris Art Market
Private Swiss Collection

38 | BONHAMS