Page 42 - Bonhams Presencer Buddhist Art Collection Oct. 2 2018

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A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF AMITABHA
MONGOLIA, ZANABAZAR SCHOOL, 17TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.61616
13.5 cm (5 1/4 in.) high
HK$400,000 - 600,000

蒙古 扎納巴扎爾風格 十七世紀 銅鎏金阿彌陀佛像

Amitabha Buddha presides over the West and embodies
Buddhahood’s transcendence over the karmic poison desire. He is
also revered just as much as Shakyamuni in East Asia as the central
figure in Pure Land Buddhism, a major Mahayana subdivision. Pure
Land advances an array of heavenly realms and teaches methods
by which one may be reborn in one of these paradises. The cult of
Amitabha in China can be traced back to at least 2nd century CE,
when the Sukhavativyuha Sutra was first translated into Chinese.

This heavily cast bronze depicts Amitabha with a confidence idiomatic
of the Zanabazar artistic school of Mongolia, founded in the 17th
century by Jebstundampa Khutukhtu Zanabazar (1635-1723). His
bold, minimal style is flawlessly executed. Compare the exacting
lotus petals, patterned hems, and the well-proportioned body with a
Zanabazar Buddha published in Ayurzana, Treasures of Mongolian Art,
Ulaanbaatar, 2005, pp.2-3. Another was sold at Christie’s, New York,
19 March 2013, lot 219.

Provenance
Targ Hansen, Copenhagen, 1970

40 | BONHAMS