Page 94 - March 23 2022 Boinghams NYC Indian and Himalayan Art

A Rare and Early Nepalese Figure Of Buddha

This rare and early bronze is an important example of the Nepalese metal- present figure, which tapers from the wide top of the head down to a narrow
casting tradition during the Licchavi period (circa 5th-8th century CE), and chin, roughly corresponding to an acorn shape, more closely resembles the
illustrates the cultural influence of the Indian Gupta style on the art of early Gupta examples such as the Met or LACMA examples, than it does the
Nepal. Originally identified as dating to the Indian Gupta dynasty (early Nepalese works such as the Walters or Harvard Buddha that have a more
fourth-late sixth century CE) when it first entered the Alsdorf Collection, the narrow and straight shape of the head.
present work indeed displays many of the trademark characteristics of the late
Gupta style famously established in northern India at sites such as Mathura or
Sarnath. The remains of gilding in the recessed areas indicate the figure was
at one point resplendently gilt, like almost all other Nepalese images from the
same period.

The present work undoubtedly draws its influence from a corpus of bronze
Buddha images from Northern India that show a consistency in style and
iconography, and which have been dated to around the sixth century CE.
Examples of this Gupta corpus include a bronze figure of Buddha, dated to
the late sixth or early seventh century in the collection of the Metropolitan
Museum of Art (acc. no. 69.222), illustrated by U. von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan
Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p. 216, fig. 45A; a bronze figure of Buddha in the
collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, illustrated by P. Pal
in Light of Asia: Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian Art, Los Angeles, 1984, p. 201,
cat. no. 85; and a bronze figure of Buddha jointly in the collections of the
Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum (acc. nos. IS.3-2004
and 2004,0401.1), illustrated by I. Alsop in “The Bronze Standing Buddha in
Gupta India and Licchavi Nepal,” Arts of Asia, November-December 2020, p.
64, fig. 5.
Like the Gupta bronzes, the present Buddha stands in a pronounced
contrapposto with his weight on the proper right leg, and with the left bent
slightly with the knee forward. The form of the body is soft, with rounded
thighs and hips, a slight protuberance of the belly, with the pinched waist
flaring out to broad shoulders and muscular upper arms. All is covered by
a diaphanous sanghati, with a circular hem at the base of the neck, and
rippling folds that fall from the wrists to the garment’s hem above the ankles.
In contrast to many of the noted Gupta examples, the sanghati is rendered
without cascading folds down the center of the torso. The right hand, a later
replacement, is lowered in a variation of vitarkamudra, although it was likely
originally held in varadamudra, the gesture of giving. The left hand is held
raised towards the chest in vitarkamudra. Such a configuration of the hands
follows closely other Nepalese examples, such as a gilt-copper image of
Buddha, dated to the eighth to tenth centuries, in the collection of the Harvard
Art Museums (acc. no. 2011.2) illustrated by I. Alsop in “The Bronze Standing
Buddha in Gupta India and Licchavi Nepal,” Arts of Asia, November-December
2020, p. 75, fig. 24, or a copper image of Buddha in the John and Berthe
Ford Collection at the Walters Art Museum, illustrated by P. Pal in Desire and
Devotion: Art from India, Nepal and Tibet in the John and Berthe Ford Collection,
p. 188, cat. no. 104. Compare, also, with a small copper image of Buddha
illustrated by U. von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p.
305, fig. 74G. The Gupta examples, in contrast, display the right hand raised
in abhayamudra and the left holding the folds of the robe.
Standing Buddha Shakyamuni in Varada-mudra; Nepal, 8th -10th
century; 10 7/16 in. (26.5 cm.) high; Harvard Art Museums, 2011.2.
The face of the present work follows the Gupta convention for representing
Photo: © President and Fellows of Harvard College
the Buddha, with a curved, aquiline nose, and large, almost bulbous, heavy-
lidded eyes below the tight snailshell curls of the hair. Indeed, the head of the

92 93