Page 43 - March 23 2022 Boinghams NYC Indian and Himalayan Art

PROPERTY FROM THE YANG FAMILY COLLECTION
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A SMALL AND RARE GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF
KAPALADHARA HEVAJRA
TIBET, 15TH CENTURY
2æ in. (7 cm.) high
$15,000-20,000
PROVENANCE:
Acquired in Moscow, 2016, by repute.

LITERATURE:
Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 24740.
The present work is distinguished by its extremely fine casting despite its
small size. Although it is possible it was made for a small, personal shrine, it
favorably compares in size and casting technique to images of Kapaladhara
Hevajra that form the central image of a bronze lotus mandala, with lotus
petals articulated to open and close. Such mandalas were first created in
Northeastern India during the Pala period in the twelfth century, but which
continued to be cast in Tibet and China into the fifteenth century. Compare,
for example, with an ungilt bronze lotus mandala with Kapaladhara
Hevajra at its center in the collection of the Qing Palace Collection in
Beijing, illustrated in Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism Collected in the
Qing Palace, Beijing, 1998, pp. 148-149, cat. no. 67. See, also, a gilt-bronze
example created in the imperial workshops of the Yongle period with
Vajrabhairava at its center, illustrated in Treasures from Snow Mountains:
Gems of Tibetan Cultural Relics, Shanghai, 2001, pp. 84-89, cat. no. 22. An
early, ungilt lotus mandala of Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi was sold at
Christie's New York, 14 September 2010, lot 61.

西藏 十五世紀 鎏金銅喜金剛立像
來源:
得自於莫斯科, 2016年 (傳)
出版:
“喜馬拉雅藝術資源” (Himalayan Art Resources), 編號24740

A rare articulated bronze mandala of Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi; Northeastern
India, late Pala period, 13th century; 16½ in. (42 cm.) high; sold, Christie’s New York,
14 September 2010, lot 61, for $122,500.
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