Page 106 - Christie's, materpieces of Buddhist Art December 2, 2015 HK

The present figure depicts the goddess, Vasudhara, a deity
heavily worshipped in Nepal, but very rarely found in Chinese
art. The implements she holds in her hands represent the
bounty she bestows upon her worshippers: knowledge,
as symbolized by the Prajnaparamitra sutra manuscript;
abundance, fulfilled by the overflowing vase; fertility,
symbolized by the fruit; wealth, from the stream of jewels;
and growth of crops, as symbolized by the sheaf of grain (the
latter two implements missing in the present example).
Images of Vasudhara abound in Nepal, are found less
frequently in Tibet, and very few are known from the Chinese
tradition. Aside from the present example, two can be found in
the collection of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, one incised with
a Yongle six-character mark (fig. A) and the other incised with cat. no. 9 (and subsequently sold at Christie’s New York, 19
a Xuande six-character mark (fig. B) , illustrated by U. von
Schroeder in Buddhist Sculpture in Tibet, vol. II, Hong Kong,
2001, pp. 1277 and 1285, pls. 356A-B and 360C, respectively.
Both are stylistically near-identical to the present example,
which is an excellent example of the Imperial Tibeto-Nepali
style established at the court of the Yongle Emperor (r. 1402-
1424). During his reign, the Imperial court looked favorably
upon Buddhism and made a concerted effort to build secular
and religious alliances with Tibet, even inviting Tibetan monks exactly follow the earlier Nepalese representations of the
to the capitals of Nanjing and Beijing to conduct religious
services. As important as Tibetan-influenced works of art
were early in fifteenth-century China, Tibetan-style Buddhism
104 Masterpieces of Buddhist Art 大俱足 — 經典亞洲佛教藝術
probably was little practiced outside the imperial court; such
images, therefore, were likely made for the court or given as
royal gifts to Buddhist institutions in Tibet. The paucity of
Vasudhara images in the rest of Chinese art indicates that the
present figure, like the examples in the Potala, were intended
as gifts for worship in Tibet.
While Vasudhara’s origins and iconography can be traced
back to India, worship was most heavily practiced in the
Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, a heavily agrarian society. Images
of the deity from Nepal can be found from as early as the
7th-8th century, including an early and rare figure in bronze,
as illustrated by Fong Chow in Arts from the Rooftop: Tibet,
Nepal, Kashmir, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1971,
March 2014, lot 1036). The strict iconography of the deity,
however, was established by the late 11th-early 12th century
monk, Abhayakaragupta, and subsequent images nearly
always follow the stipulated manner of representation, as for
example, with a 12-13th century Nepalese gilt-bronze figure
from the Collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, sold at Christie’s
New York, 17 March 2015, lot 13. The style and iconography
of the Chinese Vasudhara figures, including the present
sculpture and the two from the collection of the Potala Palace,
deity, and demonstrate the influence of Nepalese and Tibetan
artisans and theologians at the court of the Yongle Emperor.