Page 104 - Bonhams IMages of Devotion, Hong Kong Nov 30 2022

1037
A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA
NEPAL, 17TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 4739
30.3 cm (11 7/8 in.) high
HKD150,000 - 250,000

尼泊爾 十七世紀 銅鎏金釋迦牟尼像

The soft demeanor of this seated Buddha with his gaze held in spacious
equanimity together with his right hand touching the base, recalls the moment
when the earth was called to pay witness to his enlightenment. While the lotus
base with its separately cast lower half affixed on the interior is typical of Nepalese
conventions during the 17th century, its modelling echoes earlier prototypes of
Pala designs blended with those of East Asian fashions.

The robes laid across the chest with a fishtail pleat placed high over his left
shoulder and the beaded and foliated decorations at the hemline reference
an early Malla style adapted from the Pala influences coming from India, as
epitomized in a 13th-century Vajrasana Buddha image from the Early Malla period
(see Bonhams, New York, 23 September 2020, lot 611). The robe, specifically
where it drapes over the right shoulder, is a detail more commonly seen in Chinese
Buddhist bronzes produced during the 15th century of the Ming dynasty. For
examples see an example published in, Buddhist Statues of Tibet, 2003, p. 235,
no. 224, another sold at Sotheby’s, Paris, 15 December 2016, lot 129, and a
third which derives from early Chinese aesthetics associated with the Northern
Qi Dynasty (550-77), as illustrated on a seated Buddha image published in Watt,
China: Dawn of a Golden Age , 2004, fig. 89.

102 | BONHAMS