Page 26 - Bonhams NYC Portraits of the Masters Bronzes march 2017

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A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF MARPA CHOKYI LODRO
TIBET, 18TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.2256
6 in. (15.1 cm) high

US$100,000 - 150,000

西藏 十八世紀 銅鎏金馬爾巴確吉洛卓像

While Tilopa and Naropa are the Kagyu order’s root gurus that trace its teachings back to the land of the
Buddha, Marpa Chokyi Lodro (c.1010-97) is its Tibetan founder.

One of the most charismatic within the Portraits of the Masters Collection, he has the stoic expression of
a seasoned elder. He rests his hands on his knees, poised like a mountain, with sumptuous folds of his
layman’s garment hinting at the robust body underneath.

The portrait has four ‘siblings’, each exquisite in its own right, depicting Marpa in identical form, but with
ornamental variations in gilding, incised patterning, and inlay (see HAR item nos. 49425, 58311, 57390 &
57391). In 2001, Dinwiddie noted that this representation of Marpa with a short crop of hair is in contrast
to how he has been portrayed throughout most of Tibetan art history: as a young man with long hair. At
the time, the author suggested the influence of a later literary tradition, but subsequent research into the
groundbreaking art of Situ Panchen (1700-1774) makes it more likely that Marpa’s new look was inspired
by an important painted set of Kagyu lineage masters that Situ Panchen is believed to have designed. Two
later copies of it, which demonstrate the likeness with the bronze, are held in the Rubin Museum of Art and
Palpung Monastery (see HAR item nos.937 & 61006). Inspired by the work of Situ Panchen, this would
therefore suggest that the present lot and its siblings were likely created in Derge, Eastern Tibet, produced
in variations that catered to the prevailing tastes for gilded and ungilded bronzes seen throughout Tibetan
art history.

Marpa is often portrayed as a formidable, corpulent landowner with a bevy of wives. Peter Alan Roberts
skillfully contextualizes his exploits as an important agent within the Chidar:

“Marpa’s life exemplifies the nature of Tibetan Buddhism before the widespread development of schools
and their monastic establishments. Beginning in the 10th, and continuing throughout the 11th century, a
number of Tibetans, acting on individual initiative and funding, went to what is now Nepal and northern India
in search of Buddhist teachings that had not yet been introduced into Tibet. This was an important part
of what becomes known as the Later Diffusion (Chidar) of Buddhist teachings in Tibet. As was probably
the case with many such Tibetans, Marpa departed for India only after accruing sufficient capital (in gold)
to pay for his teachings there. This was still cheaper, however, than the prohibitively expensive rates of his
first teacher, Drogmi Lotsawa, whose teachings would become the foundation of the Sakya School. Once
Marpa used up his initial stock of gold, he returned to Tibet to raise more funds by teaching what he had
learnt in India, thus financing further expeditions to India to obtain more teachings. There was little religious,
or political centralization during this period, so that when Marpa’s pupils became teachers in their own right,
they did so independently and were not part of a growing organization. However, from the 11th century
onwards, the transmission of Marpa’s teachings became the basis for such centralized traditions as the
Karma Kagyu and Drukpa Kagyu which extended throughout the Tibetan plateau.”
(Dinwiddie (ed.), Portraits of the Masters, p.123)

Thus Marpa’s biographies hint that the commerce of Indian Buddhist teachings were a major driving force in
their transfer to Tibet.

Published
Portraits of the Masters, pp.142-3, no.19.

Published & Exhibited
Monasterios y Lamas del Tibet, p.163, no.109.

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