Page 40 - Christies Indian and Himalayan Art IRVING collection Sept 24 2020 NYC

THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE MANHATTAN COLLECTOR
719
A GILT-COPPER FIGURE OF A
CROWNED BUDDHA
NEPAL, 15TH CENTURY
11 in. (28 cm.) high
$90,000-120,000
PROVENANCE:
Koller Auktionen, Zurich, 8 May - 8 June 2012, lot 112.

LITERATURE:
Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 24620.
This elegant sculpture depicts the moment when Buddha
Shakyamuni achieves enlightenment. Having withstood
the celestial king Mara’s temptations, the Buddha sits
under the Bodhi tree in meditation as Mara’s armies make
a final attempt at upstaging him. In his deep introspective
state, Buddha touches the ground with a single finger and
calls upon the earth to witness his enlightenment and
ward off Mara’s armies.
Seated in dhyanasana on a double-lotus base, with his
hands in bhumisparshamudra, the richly-gilt figure wears
a diaphanous robe with a pearled hemline and finely
detailed, coral-inlaid crown, a feature most common
to the Malla period of Nepal. His square face with
downturned, almond-shaped eyes flanking a silver-inlaid
urna, a hooked nose, and bow-shaped lips recalls earlier
Pala period prototypes. The figure may be compared to a
14th century crowned Buddha sold at Christie’s New York,
13 September 2016, lot 217; both works displaying the
robust physique, particularly in the chest, shoulders and
upper arms, that is characteristic of early Malla sculpture.
Compare, also, the treatment of the flared ties of the
crown in both works, which fall to the shoulders behind
the pendulous, pierced earlobes.

A gilt-bronze figure of Buddha Shakyamuni; Nepal, 14th-15th
century; 10 ½ in. (26.5 cm.) high; Christie’s New York, 13
September 2016, sold for US $161,000.

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