Page 38 - Christie's, materpieces of Buddhist Art December 2, 2015 HK

2902

AN IMPORTANT GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF
BUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI

NEPAL, EARLY MALLA PERIOD, 13TH CENTURY

The Buddha stands in slight tribhanga with his right hand lowered in fig. 1
varadamudra and the left holding the folds of his robes, each hand with A large and important gilt-bronze figure of
delicately articulated fingers and with a chakra incised on the palm. He Avalokiteshvara, Nepal, 13th century
wears a long dhoti beneath a slightly shorter sanghati, and both garments Collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth
are incised on the hems, which are visible at the neck, wrists and calves.
The face is exquisitely modelled with full lips, aquiline nose and elongated (圖一) 尼泊爾 十三世紀 鎏金銅觀音立像
eyes with incised pupils beneath finely wrought eyebrows centred by a 安思遠舊藏
spiral urna. The pattern is echoed in the spiral hair tufts rising to an ushnisha
topped with a gilt knop. The figure is beautifully gilt overall with the richly
patinated copper showing through.

20 in. (50.8 cm.) high

PROVENANCE
Collection of a private foundation, Europe, by 1985
An American Private Collection, New York, acquired from Sotheby’s New
York, 16 September 1998, lot 62

EXHIBITED
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 15 March 1985 – 9 June 1992
Barcelona, Casa Asia, Divine Presence: Arts of India and the Himalayas, 27
March-22 June 2003

LITERATURE
J. Casey Singer, et al., Divine Presence: Arts of India and the Himalayas, Milan,
2003, p. 131, cat. no. 39.

Standing gilt-bronze figures of Buddha Shakyamuni of this age, stature,
and importance rarely appear on the market. Compare with a similarly-
dated gilt-bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara, slightly larger in size than
the present figure, from The Collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, sold at
Christie’s New York, 17 March 2015, lot 25 (fig. 1). See, also, a gilt-
bronze figure of Padmapani from The Doris Wiener Collection, sold at
Christie’s New York, 20 March 2012, lot 92 (fig. 2). Also note a smaller,
14th century seated figure of a crowned Buddha, sold at Christie’s New
York, 19 March 2014.

fig. 2
A gilt-bronze figure of Padmapani, Nepal, 13th century
The Doris Wiener Collection
(圖二) 尼泊爾 十三世紀 鎏金銅蓮花手菩薩立像

Doris Wiener 舊藏

36 Masterpieces of Buddhist Art 大俱足 — 經典亞洲佛教藝術