Page 16 - Bonhams NYC Portraits of the Masters Bronzes march 2017

3208 He is dressed in a sumptuous lay tunic tied by a neat bow at the
A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF A TIBETAN KING, midriff. He wears pointed boots, a large beaded necklace, and a small
PROBABLY SOGTSEN GAMPO gau suspended on finely detailed beaded strands. His hair falls in long
TIBET, 18TH CENTURY tresses across his shoulders, and a tall turban covers his head - both
Himalayan Art Resources item no.2250 trappings of nobility. He most likely represents the first King of Tibet,
9 1/8 in. (23.3 cm) high Songtsen Gampo (r. c.622-649). While the identifying element of the
US$30,000 - 50,000 head of Amitabha, which may have originally occupied the peak of his
西藏 十八世紀 銅鎏金藏王像，或為松贊干布 turban, is indistinguishable due to the loss, the sculpture compares
favorably with a more rigid example on a double cushion throne in
14 | BONHAMS the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (see Pal, Art of Tibet, Los
Angeles, 1983, p. 231, no. S41.

Published
Portraits of the Masters, pp.104-7, no.10.

Published & Exhibited
Monasterios y Lamas del Tibet, pp.150-1, no.98.

Provenance
Sotheby’s, New York, 23 March 1995, lot 52