Page 28 - Christies Indian and Himalayan Art IRVING collection Sept 24 2020 NYC

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTION
716
A LARGE BRONZE FIGURE OF BUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI
TIBET, 15TH-16TH CENTURY
15Ω in. (39.4 cm.) high
$120,000-180,000
PROVENANCE:
Sotheby's New York, 24 September 1997, lot 97.
LITERATURE:
Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 24634.

The present figure represents Buddha Shakyamuni seated in dhyanasana on Newari bronze casters, virtuosos of both Buddhist and Hindu sculpture ,
a double lotus base. His hands are held in bhumisparshamudra, representing were widely patronized throughout the Himalayan region and as far as the
the moment Shakyamuni achieved enlightenment as he touched the earth imperial Yuan dynasty workshops in Beijing. By the fifteenth century, Tibetan
with one finger. The snug sanghati draped over the figure’s left shoulder is ateliers commonly incorporated Nepalese stylistic traits, such as the pinched
finely finished with a beaded and foliate incised hem. Buddha’s face carries a waist, muscular upper body, and serene facial expression seen in the present
deep, contemplative expression, with a delicately arched brow, downcast eyes, example. Distinctly Tibetan features of the figure include the application of
an unobtrusive urna, and a small bow-shaped mouth. His elongated earlobes blue pigments in Shakyamuni’s hair, the patterning of his sanghati, and the
recall his previous life as a prince, when he would wear heavy, jeweled earrings. tone of the bronze itself. Overall, the figure’s balanced proportions, refined
His sparsely pigmented blue hair is arranged into spiraled curls and gathered casting, and enviable size make this bronze an outstanding example of the
into a tall, domed ushnisha capped with a bud-shaped cintamani. master craftsmanship of the Tibetan renaissance.
The fifteenth century witnessed the foundation of a number of great Compare the present lot to a contemporaneous, gilt-bronze figure of Buddha
monasteries and is widely considered the pinnacle of Tibetan bronze images. Shakyamuni of similar size sold at Christie’s New York, 12 September 2018, lot
The sculptural mastery is owed, in part, to the Nepalese sculptural style, 358; both works share the similar muscular proportions, close-fitting sanghati
which permeated through Tibet in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. with folds falling from the left elbow, and serence facial expression.

A large gilt-bronze figure of Buddha Shakyamuni; Tibet,
14th-15th century; 17 ¼ in. (43.8 cm.) high; Christie’s New
York 12 September 2018, lot 358, sold for $225,000.