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This exceptional gilt-bronze fgure of Vairocana

                                  illustrates the fve Tathagatas in his highly ornate cylindrical
                                  crown. This seems to be a unique iconographic feature
                                  found amongst the small group of comparable elite bronzes
                                  cast under the patronage of the rulers of the Liao dynasty
                                  (907-1125). This known group of bronzes all demonstrate a
                                  comparable style: the fgure itself is dignifed and serene,
                                  the gilding is fne, and they wear lavish adornments and
                                  drapery. The style derives from late Tang dynasty (618-907)
                                  iconography. The known group shares a specifc type of
                                  lotus base that can be divided into two diferent shapes.
                                  One cast with an integral lotus base supported by cabriole
                                  legs and the other with the lotus pericarp directly placed on
                                  a low drum-shaped base, like the current one.

                                  The inside of this bronze Vairocana’s base is incised with
                                  an inscription mentioning that the bronze was registered
                                  at a local government ofice. It is known from research
                                  that bronze as a material was rare and costly in these days.
                                  Therefore, bronze objects were exclusive and had to be
                                  registered before being brought on the market. Perhaps
                                  its importance and particulary heavy weight required this
                                  oficial government approval.

                                  Most of the known bronze examples represent bodhisattvas
                                  and only but a few would depict a Buddha form. Most
                                  of the latter kind represent Buddha Amitabha. Only one
                                  other Vairocana example, though it was described as a
                                  bodhisattva, seems to be known and was published by A
                                  & J Speelman Ltd., International Asian Art Fair [catalogue],
                                  New York, 1998, p. 76. In 2006, that bronze was acquired by
                                  the Metropolitan Museum of New York (accession number
                                  2006.284) who identifed it as Vairocana, based on the
                                  specifc hand gesture. This esoteric ‘mudra of knowledge’
                                  ( jnanamudra) or ‘diamond fst’ (vajramudra) symbolises the
                                  combination of opposites, male and female, yin and yang,
                                  as well as wisdom and compassion. However, that bronze
                                  fgure does not bear the fve Tathagatas in his crown like the
                                  current example.

                                  Vairocana is the Primordial Buddha from whom all things
                                  emanate. He heads the group of fve Tathagatas or cosmic
                                  Buddhas, each representing a diferent mood, colour and
                                  direction. The teachings of the transcendent Buddhas were
                                  relatively popular in China from the Tang up to the Liao
                                  period based on various stone and clay examples that have
                                  come down to us.

                                  This small group of luxurious commissions for Liao Buddhist
                                  shrines can be dated to the eleventh century, based on a
                                  group of over life-size clay fgures in the Lower Huayan
                                  Temple, Datong, Shanxi Province, dated to 1038 AD. The
                                  temple was then located in the western capital of the Liao
                                  kingdom. Angela Falco Howard (et al.) published a picture
                                  of the shrine in her magnum opus Chinese Sculpture, Yale
                                  University Press, New Haven, 2006, p. 375, fgure 4.18.
                                  Bodhisattvas of this shrine share the same proportions,
                                  ornaments, clothes and high crowns along with several of
                                  their gilt-bronze counterparts, including the current one.
                                  Other gilt-bronze Liao examples in public institutions are
                                  cited in the catalogue note of Lot 396, Christie’s, New York,
                                  19 March 2008. However none of these cited comparable
                                  gilt-bronze Buddhist fgures match the quality, rarity and
                                  iconographic complexity of this superbly cast sacred image.

70 ART D'ASIE · 14 DÉCEMBRE 2016
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