Page 29 - Bonhams Presencer Buddhist Art Collection Oct. 2 2018

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A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF BUDDHA AN IRON STUPA
NORTHERN INDIA, GUPTA PERIOD, 6TH CENTURY INDIA OR TIBET, 11TH CENTURY OR LATER
Himalayan Art Resources item no.61619 Himalayan Art Resources item no.61674
5 cm (2 in.) high 16 cm (6 1/4 in.) high

HK$65,000 - 85,000 HK$15,000 - 25,000

印度北部 笈多王朝 六世紀 銅佛坐像 印度或西藏 十一世紀 鐵質佛塔

This small figure of Shakyamuni stems from the ‘golden age’ of For the first five centuries, Buddha's followers did not represent him
Indian Buddhist art, the Gupta period (4th-6th century). It is closely in human form. Rather they emphasized his supramundane nature
related to bronzes found at Danesar Khera in Uttar Pradesh. Famous and celebrated its lingering presence in the world. Stupas are among
examples are in the British Museum (1969,0725.1), and the Rockefeller the most important and lasting of these 'aniconic' representations.
Collection at Asia Society, New York (1979.7). From the earliest Stupas can be small reliquaries, like the present, charged with sacred
representations of Shakyamuni in human form, his followers stress contents, or large monuments for pilgrimage believed to house
his mythic otherworldliness. It was in the Gupta period that features important relics - in some cases still-vivified elements of Shakyamuni's
distinguishing him from ordinary humans, such as webbed hands and mortal body. Precedent for its sun-and-moon finial can be found
a cranial protuberance (ushnisha), were crystallized, to be repeated for in Indian stupas, as seen in a famous 8th-century Gilgit shrine of
centuries throughout Asia. Crowned Buddha in the Rockefeller Collection at Asia Society
(1979.044).
Provenance
Gerry Mitchell, London, 2008 Provenance
Toovey’s Auction, UK, 2017

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THE PRESENCER COLLECTION OF BUDDHIST ART | 27