Page 56 - Bonhams NYC Portraits of the Masters Bronzes march 2017

3244
A SILVER INLAID COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF TSANGNYON HERUKA
TSANG, CENTRAL TIBET, 16TH CENTURY
Inscription translated, ‘Homage to the scholar-yogin, the mad man of Tsang, Sang gye
Gyaltsen’.
Himalayan Art Resources item no.10874
7 7/8 in. (20 cm) high

US$100,000 - 150,000

藏中 十六世紀 銅錯銀藏紐赫魯加像

It is difficult to imagine a portrait bronze with more eccentricity and charisma. “The
Madman of Tsang”, Tsangnyon Heruka (1452-1507) appears to draw a disapproving
frown, but more likely he is inhaling deeply through his nostrils to heat his naked body
through breath alone. His rotund belly confirms he is a master of the Kundalini yoga
practice (tummo).

While ordained, Tsangnyon Heruka’s teachers were Rechungpa (1084-1161) and
Gampopa (lot 3225), the primary pupils of Milarepa (lot 3219). But inspired by his grand-
master, and Kagyu’s early Indian mahasiddhas, Tsangnyon Heruka turned his back on
monasticism to pursue the tantric life. His biographies have him inhabiting burial grounds,
wearing and even eating what he finds there. Here, the bronze is deliberately cast in two
alloys, affording the figure a richer and darker copper content to convey the tint of his
body covered with ashes from charnel remains. Nevertheless, like the peripatetic Milarepa
before him, he attracted numerous disciples as he wandered between cemeteries, caves,
and hermitages.

In 1504, Tsangnyon Heruka accepted the invitation of the King Ratnamalla (1482-1520)
to restore the famed Svayambhu Stupa in his capital, Kathmandu. Completed in less
than three months, the project won him the acclaim of many who were initially put off
by the master’s unusual behavior. Shortly afterward he received the high praise of The
Seventh Karmapa, Chodrak Gyatso (1454-1506) and the King of Central Tibet, Donyo
Dorje (1463-1512).

Tsangnyon Heruka is also one of Tibet’s most celebrated authors. He is among the first
to have his works printed with woodblocks, funding and developing the technology
which would have a profound effect on Tibetan culture. His most famous writings are
the biographies of Milarepa and Marpa (lot 3218), but he also produced a number of
instructional texts, particularly for the Rechung Kagyu and Drukpa Kagyu transmissions.
He cultivated a legacy of writing and printing wherein his pupils added the standard
biographies of Tilopa, Naropa (lot 3217) and Rechungpa.

The bronze has the typical brassy lotus base of the ateliers of Tsang in Central Tibet,
where Tsangong Heruka was born and active.

Published
Portraits of the Masters, pp.154-5, no.25.
Matthew Akester, Jamyang Khyentsé Wangpo’s Guide to Central Tibet, Chicago, 2016,
p. 423.

Published & Exhibited
Monasterios y Lamas del Tibet, p.179, no.127.

Provenance
Sotheby’s, New York, 20 March 1997, lot 112

54 | BONHAMS