Page 170 - Bonhams Auction Images of Devotion Oct. 2 2018

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A SILVER FIGURE OF USHNISHAVIJAYA 銀質尊勝佛母像
TIBET, CIRCA 17TH CENTURY 西藏，約十七世紀
Himalayan Art Resources item no.61767 喜馬拉雅藝術資源網61767號
12 cm (4 3/4 in.) high 高12釐米（4 3/4 英吋）

HK$2,500,000 - 3,000,000 2,500,000 - 3,000,000 港元

The seated goddess is lavishly adorned with crowns, necklaces, 佛母頭戴寶冠、周身嚴飾嵌有寶石的項鏈、釧鐲等，十分富麗華美。
and bracelets inset with semi-precious stones. Yet her dignified 然而佛母莊嚴秀美的面龐則比珠飾更具華貴之氣。佛母主面表情慈悲
beauty surpasses the glamour of all her jewels. With a friendly and 和善，一手向前舒展，結與願印保佑眾生心想事成。
compassionate expression on her principal face, she gracefully
extends one of her eight hands forward, granting wishes to her 尊勝佛母，與無量壽佛、白度母合稱藏傳佛教中的長壽三本尊，是
admirers. 《尊勝咒》的擬人化化現，保佑信眾壽命增長，往生極樂世界。學
者艾米·海勒在其著作中提到「尊勝佛母常由未受戒的供養人出資鑄
Here Ushnishavijaya fulfills wishes for long life. As the 造，供奉於重要儀式中為過世親人祈求往生極樂世界，或者為在世
personification of a Buddhist mantra associated with longevity and 者積累功德，期盼將來可往生極樂。」（參見Heller，《Tibetan Art:
favorable rebirth, she is one of the three long-life deities in Tibetan Tracing the Development of Spiritual Ideals and Art in Tibet》， 米
Buddhism, together with Amitayus and White Tara. According to 蘭，1999年，頁196）。或許正是出於如此虔誠的發心，此尊勝佛母
Amy Heller, images of the goddess “were frequent commissions by 全像以比鎏金銅更為珍貴的白銀打造，而高昂的造價也使此像更加殊
lay people, either made as part of memorial rituals, to accompany 勝難得。
prayers for favorable rebirth of a loved one or to gain merit in the
hopes of a favorable rebirth for those not yet deceased.” (See 另一尊同樣精美的銀質尊勝佛母造像收綠於以上同冊Heller著作中
Heller, Tibetan Art: Tracing the Development of Spiritual Ideals （頁197，圖105）。類似一尊洛克菲勒家族舊藏銀鎏金白度母造像
and Art in Tibet, Milan, 1999, p.196). This might explain why this 可參見Leidy著，《Treasures of Asian Art》, 紐約，1994年，頁88，
exceptional sculpture of Ushnishavijaya has the benefit of being 圖71。此尊佛母造型和衣紋處理也可參照菩薩道藏的一尊約十七世紀
cast in silver, considered more precious than gilded copper in Tibet. 銀質大隨求佛母像，參見Weldon與Casey Singer，《The Sculptural
The commission is more meritorious, being more costly, and the Heritage of Tibet》, 倫敦，1999年，頁124-5，圖29。
bronze more efficacious.
來源
Another lavish example of Ushnishavijaya cast in silver is published in 榮赫鵬遠征西藏，1903-4年
ibid., p.197, no.105. A related gilt silver figure of White Tara formerly 英國私人收藏
in the Rockefeller Collection, is published in Leidy, Treasures of Asian
Art, New York, 1994, p.88, fig.71. Also compare the modeling and
treatment of the garment to a circa-17th-century silver figure of
Mahapratisara in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, published in Weldon
and Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet, London, 1999,
pp.124-5, pl.29.

Provenance
The Younghusband Expedition to Tibet, 1903-4
Private Collection, United Kingdom

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