Page 58 - 2020 September 23 Himalyan and Southeast Asian Works of Art Bonhams

627 627 (reverse)

627
A SILVER FIGURE OF SACHEN KUNGA NYINGPO Published
TIBET, CIRCA 16TH CENTURY David Weldon and Jane Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of
A Tibetan inscription at the back of the base, translated: “Homage to Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, London, 1999,
the revered Sakya master!” fig.47, p.130.
Himalayan Art Resources item no.68467 F. Ricca, Arte Buddhista Tibetana: Dei e Demoni dell’ Himalaya, Turin,
2 3/8 in. (6.1 cm) high 2004, fig.IV.60.

$20,000 - 30,000 Exhibited
The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam
西藏 約十六世紀 薩欽貢嘎寧波銀像 Collection, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 6 October – 30 December
1999.
Arte Buddhista Tibetana: Dei e Demoni dell’ Himalaya, Palazzo
Showing his characteristic haircut and facial features, this sweet Bricherasio, Turin, June – September 2004.
gem of a miniature portrait can be firmly identified as Sachen Kunga Stable as a Mountain: Gurus in Himalayan Art, Rubin Museum of Art,
Nyingpo. (Compare an inscribed portrait sold at Bonhams, New York, New York, 13 March – 13 July 2009.
14 March 2017, lot 3259.) Another small silver figure depicting Sonam Casting the Divine: Sculptures of the Nyingjei Lam Collection, Rubin
Tsemo (1142-1182), the son of Kunga Nyingpo, is most likely from the Museum of Art, New York, 2 March 2012 – 11 February 2013.
same set (von Schroeder-Imhof, Schritte zur Erkenntnis, Zurich, 2006,
p.92, no.27). Made of silver—more precious than gold in Tibet—Kunga Provenance
Nyingpo’s monastic robes are modeled convincingly and embellished The Nyingjei Lam Collection
with incised cloud and floral patterns. On loan to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1996 – 2005
On loan to the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2005 – 2019
Although technically the son of the founder of Sakya Monastery,
Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (1034-1102) is considered the first of The
Five Great Founders of the Sakya Order. He was an effective political
leader as well as a tantric master. Kunga Nyingpo authored numerous
significant scholarly works, especially on the Chakrasamvara Tantra
and the lamdre tradition (lit. ‘Path with the Result’), which is at the
doctrinal core of the Sakya.

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