Page 22 - 2021 March 16th Indian, Himalayan and Tibetan Art, Bonhams NYC New York

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A SILVER INLAID COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF A BODHISATTVA
SWAT VALLEY, CIRCA 8TH CENTURY
Together with an associated backplate of the same period.
Himalayan Art Resources item no.16913
5 1/8 in. (13 cm) high
$40,000 - 60,000
斯瓦特 約八世紀 銅錯銀菩薩像

Full of joyful details, this sweet bronze depicts a bodhisattva musing on a tiered
rocky throne in the ‘Pensive Bodhisattva’ pose. He is joined by a recumbent goat
in the bottom left corner, a lion in the centre, and a kneeling devotee in the bottom
right (perhaps an effigy of this icon’s ancient patron). A leafy vine grows from the
rock and up the front of the throne. The bodhisattva has an idealized physique,
clad in a lower garment that twists and pools with sumptuous pleats. The lotus
flourishing at his right shoulder is as alert as his eyes are enlivened by silver inlay.

Nestled in the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountain range, at the crossroads of the
Indian Subcontinent and Central Asia, Swat Valley was an important locus for the
spread of Buddhism between India, the Western Himalayas, and East Asia. Swat
Valley’s small corpus of bronzes reflects an intriguing synthesis of aesthetic modes
from the art of the Kushans, Guptas, and Sasanians: powerful empires which once
wielded influence over the region. These bronzes also exhibit exciting precedents
for the artistic schools of Kashmir, Gilgit, and Guge.

This lot’s stylistic features are matched by other Swat Valley bronzes from the
same period. A similar treatment of the stylized rocky base, consisting of L-shaped
sections, is represented in a bronze Padmapani at the Cleveland Museum of Art
(von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, pp.84-5, no.6F). His
fan-shaped chignon, crown, ribbons, and diamond-shaped armbands are close to
another Padmapani figure held in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (see Pal,
Bronzes of Kashmir, New Delhi, 1975, pp.138-9, no.47). Also see Christie’s, New
York, 23 March 1999, lot 13.

The current bronze is also related to a group of 7th-8th century sculptures
attributed by von Schroeder to the Zhang Zhung Kingdom of Western Tibet
(Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Vol.II, Hong Kong, 2001, pp.782-7, nos.185-7).
Known as the center of Tibet’s Bon religion, Zhang Zhung was ruled by the Tibetan
Empire from the 7th to 9th centuries and Buddhism was presumably introduced
from Central Tibet. Von Schroeder argues the considerable number of early
Western Himalayan bronzes preserved in Tibetan Monasteries indicate that the
greater Swat and Kashmir region had tremendous influence on Tibet during the first
propagation of Buddhism, which also explains the stylistic resemblance between
this Zhang Zhung group and contemporaneous Western Himalayan sculptures.
Two bronzes from this group have a rocky base like the present lot’s, with lions,
goats, and leafy plants in front (ibid., 186A & 187C). Also compare their densely
pleated lower garments and sashes (ibid., 185A, C, & 186A).

Provenance
Bodhicitta Inc., New York, 5 February 2004
Private West Coast Collection

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