Page 16 - 2021 March 16th Indian, Himalayan and Tibetan Art, Bonhams NYC New York

Together with the band of plump lotus petals around the sculpture’s base, the
exuberant scrolls draw on an iconographic convention that permeates Indic
religions. Transcending earth, water, air, fire, and space, the aquatic flower
symbolizes the sacred source of the cosmos—its stem is life’s umbilicus. In
Buddhism, the image of the lotus arising from its murky bed is used as a metaphor
for any sentient being’s ability to achieve enlightenment, regardless of their karmic
debt. Below Vajravarahi’s right shin, a floral stem rises from the scrollwork and
sprouts a wish-fulfilling gem, itself a microcosm of the sculpture’s overall sentiment,
conveying the promise of the transcendent boon Vajravarahi represents for
practitioners.

While the petaled rim of a lotus pedestal supports almost any bronze sculpture
of a Buddhist deity that survives with its base, the vines and waters below are
much rarer. They are sometimes seen in stone sculpture from the Pala period,
but seldom carried over into bronze figures. Examples in stone can be found
on two 9th-century steles of Avalokiteshvara and a 10th-century stele of Varaha
(Asher, Nalanda, Mumbai, 2015, pp.112, 113 & 117, nos. 5.15, 5.16 & 5.22).
An 8th-century stone panel from Nalanda offers a precedent for the Vajravarahi’s
scrollwork in shallow relief (Chandra, Indian Sculpture, Washington, 1985, p.143,
no.64). One reason for the rarity of depicting vegetal waters is that many Pala
bronzes were cast separately from their original stands representing the subject, as
one stand from the 12th century in the Metropolitan Museum of Art demonstrates
(fig.1; 2009.21a–c). Bronze sculptural lotus mandalas also show the stem rising
from water, such as a Vajratara mandala in the Indian Museum, Kolkata (Ray,
Eastern Indian Bronzes, 1986, nos.281a & b). But, based on the few known
examples, including two superlative bronzes from the 10th and 11th century of
Buddha and Avalokiteshvara with large openwork roundels (Ray, ibid., nos.232 &
233), and a further 11th-/12th-century Manjushri sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 24
March 2011, lot 26 (for over two million dollars) with similar shallow scrollwork, this
added symbolism was reserved for outstanding castings.

Fig.1
Foliate Pedestal for a Buddhist Image
Late 12th century
India (probably Bengal)
Partially gilded brass, copper base
H. 8 1/4 in. (21 cm); W. 7 1/4 in. (18.4 cm);
D. 3 1/2 in. (8.9 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Purchase, The Manheim Foundation Inc. Gift and Rogers Fund,
by exchange, 2009 (2009.21a–c)
14 | BONHAMS