Page 29 - Sothebys Buddhist Metalwork From The Collection of Tuyet Nguyet And Stephen Markbreiter May 26 2021

105

A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF SHAKYAMUNI 明永樂 鎏金銅釋迦牟尼佛坐像

BUDDHA 《大明永樂年施》款
MARK AND PERIOD OF YONGLE
the upper surface of the base incised with a six-character
Daming Yongle nian shi reign mark
14.9 cm

HK$ 1,000,000-1,500,000
US$ 129,000-194,000
The historical Shakyamuni Buddha is envisaged in this
statue seated in vajraparyankasana at Bodh Gaya in eastern
India, having vowed to remain in meditation to penetrate
the mystery of samsara. He was interrupted by the demon
hordes of Mara, the ‘lord of the senses’. The Buddha
overcame their attempts at seduction and distraction, and in
defiance moved his right hand from the meditation position
to touch the ground before him. The gesture, bhumishparsha
mudra, signifies the moment of triumph over Mara in calling
the earth spirit to witness his claim to enlightenment.
This classic iconography of Shakyamuni Buddha is famously
represented in two complete Yongle altar shrines, one in the
British Museum, illustrated in Wladimir Zwalf, ed., Buddhism:
Art and Faith, London, 1985, cat. no. 305, and the other from
the Speelman Collection, sold in these rooms, 7th October
2006, lot 808. Yongle reign-marked images of Shakyamuni
Buddha in this smaller scale are relatively rare. Only one
was recorded in Ulrich von Schroeder’s survey of Tibetan
monastery collections, preserved in the Potala Palace,
illustrated in Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Hong Kong, 2001,
vol. II, pl. 358A; another, with the reign mark erased, is now
in a private collection, Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan
Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, pl. 146D.
A larger (21 cm) but closely related Yongle gilt-bronze
Shakyamuni, also from the Tuyet Nguyet and Stephen
Markbreiter collection, was sold in these rooms, 7th October
2010, lot 2142, and another example sold in these rooms, 3rd
October 2017, lot 3143.
Other Yongle reign-marked gilt-bronze figures of
Shakyamuni include one in the Palace Museum, Beijing,
illustrated in Splendors from the Yongle (1403-1424) and
Xuande (1426-1435) Reigns of China’s Ming Dynasty, Beijing,
2010, p. 244, pl. 118, and the large example (55 cm) sold in
these rooms, 8th October 2013, lot 3075.

Mark

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