Page 44 - Bonhams, Indian and Himalayan Art New York July 23, 2020

843
A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF PALDEN LHAMO
DENSATIL, CENTRAL TIBET, 14TH/15TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.16810
11 3/4 in. (30 cm) high

$50,000 - 70,000
丹薩替 藏中 十四/十五世紀 吉祥天母銅像

Founded in 1158 by Phagmodrupa Dorje Gyalpo (1110-1170), the Densatil monastery of
Central Tibet was remembered for its lavishly decorated tashi gomang stupas, erected during
the late-13th to 15th centuries. Covered in gilded deities, the tashi gomang stupas were among
the greatest artistic creations in the history of Tibetan Buddhism. This powerful figure of Palden
Lhamo would have belonged to one of them.

Representing one of the four-armed forms of Palden Lhamo (lit. “Glorious Goddess”)—the
principle female protector of Tantric Buddhist wisdom—this densely cast bronze would have
sat within the bottom tier of a tashi gomang stupa, which was dedicated to guardian deities.
Formerly supported by a lotus base, the figure would have been affixed using the square hole in
the sculpture’s back.

Seated sideways on a flayed human skin atop a recumbent mule, Palden Lhamo’s powerful
presence has been skilfully conveyed by a Newari artist through her stout torso and robust
limbs. Her ferocity is highlighted by bulging eyes, flaming brows, and a gaping mouth. A
second flayed human skin is draped across her back with the head hanging over her right
shoulder and hands tied around her neck.

Compare with a gilt bronze figure of Pranasadhana Shri Devi in Czaja & Proser (eds.), Golden
Visions of Densatil, New York, 2014, pp.106-7, no.17. Two other examples of Densatil-style,
four-armed Palden Lhamo figures are published in Huang, Xizhang Dansatisi Lishi Yanjiu,
Beijing, 2016, p.331, and Grewenig & Rist (eds.), Buddha: 2000 Years of Buddhist Art,
Völklingen, 2016, pp.428-9, no.187. Also see a two-armed Palden Lhamo in the Jokhang
Monastery, which is later, having a leaner body (von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculpture in Tibet, Vol.
II, Hong Kong, 2001, pp.1068-9, no.274B).

Provenance
Christie’s, New York, 24 March 1995, lot 66
Private New York Collection

42 | BONHAMS