Page 25 - Bonhams NYC Portraits of the Masters Bronzes march 2017

3216 3217 3217

3216 Together these Indian masters represent the roots of the Karma
A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF MAHASIDDHA SAUKARIKA Kagyu lineage tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, its teaching’s first mortal
TIBET, CIRCA 15TH CENTURY master and pupil. Identified by the fish in hand, Tilopa (928-1009) is
Inscription translated, “Made at Nyug, given to the Great Assembly. A the order’s root guru, informed by divine instruction. His teachings
brahmin who actually saw the Buddha, gaining the attainments in the draw syncretically on various tantric traditions that emerged in the last
form of a layman vow-holder, known as the ‘Swine Herder’, to that centuries of the 1st millennium CE, and provide the foundation for the
teacher I bow.” Kagyu order’s meditational practices.
Himalayan Art Resources item no.2292
4 7/8 in. (12.3 cm) high Born a Hindu and later a Buddhist abbot of Nalanda monastery,
Naropa (956-1040) was appalled when he first met Tilopa preparing
US$7,000 - 10,000 fish with his ‘unclean’ hand. But when the madman snapped his
fingers and the fish came back to life and flew away, Naropa realized
西藏 約十五世紀 銅鎏金大成就者索喀利卡像 he was in the presence of a great master. His hagiographies contain
many anecdotes that position him didactically as the archetypal
For further discussion see lot 3215. Kagyu pupil. Naropa is identified by his skullcup in hand, which is
said to have been his last remaining possession before he gave it to
Published his primary pupil Marpa (lot 3218). Subsequently enshrined in Tibet,
Portraits of the Masters, pp.338-9, no.98. the skullcup became an important relic symbolizing the transmission
of tantric Buddhism from its pure, Indian source. Atisha (982-1054)
Published & Exhibited is also said to have brought Naropa’s cremated remains from
Monasterios y Lamas del Tibet, p.209, no.179. Northeastern India to Tibet in 1042.

3217 Published
TWO GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURES OF TILOPA AND NAROPA Portraits of the Masters, pp.138-41, no.17 & 18.
TIBET, 18TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item nos.2254-5 Published & Exhibited
5 in. (12.5 cm) high, the larger Monasterios y Lamas del Tibet, pp.160-2, no.107 & 108.

US$6,000 - 8,000

西藏 十八世紀 銅鎏金帝洛巴與那洛巴像兩尊

PORTRAITS OF THE MASTERS: 108 BRONZE SCULPTURES OF THE TIBETAN BUDDHIST LINEAGES | 23