Page 22 - Bonhams Presencer Buddhist Art Collection Oct. 2 2018

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A GILT COPPER FIGURE OF VASUDHARA
NEPAL, 14TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.61637
21.5 cm (8 1/2 in.) high

HK$1,600,000 - 2,400,000

尼泊爾 十四世紀 銅鎏金財源天母像

Vasudhara’s name means, “Bearer of Treasure”; she is a Buddhist
goddess of wealth and abundance. She is particularly revered among
the Newars of the Kathmandu Valley. She is the consort of the
wealth deity Jambhala, but her worship precedes his in Nepal. Also
considered the personification of transcendental wisdom, Vasudhara
is the Buddhist counterpart to both Lakshmi and Sarasvati, Hindu
goddesses of prosperity and wisdom.

This sizeable, heavily cast bronze of Vasudhara is modeled with soft,
rounded forms – a hallmark of the Newari aesthetic, showing gods
happy and well-nourished. Her six arms radiate naturalistically from her
shoulders, spreading in all directions. Vasudhara is richly adorned with
extravagant crown, jewelry, and boldly patterned dhoti, accentuating
her abundant perfection. She displays the mudras of generosity and
reassurance. Vasudhara brings prosperity in its fullest sense, holding
treasure vases, grain, jewels, and sutras. She is propitiated not only for
wealth and success, but also for fertility, both of land and womb.

Among the many representations of Vasudhara, this six-armed form
is largely unique to Nepal. In Tibet, her two-armed form is more
common. Compare her rounded physiognomy and patterned dhoti to
a related example published in von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures
of the Alain Bordier Foundation, Hong Kong, 2010, pp.26-7, no.10B.
Also see a smaller figure of the same deity sold at Sotheby’s, New
York, 26 March 1998, lot 217. Informing her 14th-century date,
compare the closely related physiognomy, facial type, jewelry, metallic
alloy, and gilding to a Uma Maheshvara, dated by inscription 1345 CE,
sold at Bonhams, New York, 19 March 2018, lot 3020.

Provenance
David Weldon, London, 1970-72

20 | BONHAMS