Page 44 - Bonhams IMages of Devotion, Hong Kong Nov 30 2022

1016
A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF PADMASAMBHAVA
TIBET, 15TH/16TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 4744
23.3 cm (9 1/8 in.) high

HKD800,000 - 1,200,000
西藏 十五/十六世紀 銅鎏金蓮花生大士像

Like many hagiographies of Buddhist saints, the life of the 8th-century master
Padmasambhava is clad in myth and mystery. Often referred to as the ‘Second
Buddha,’ his legend, which is compiled of layers of overlapping legends, often tells
of his miraculous birth from a lotus in Lake Danokosha in Oddiyana, in present day
Swat Valley. Facial features, attributes, and clothing are instantly recognizable as
the Great Guru is presented here more as a mythical figure rather than an accurate
portrayal. The styling of the cap with the flaps lifted and surmounted by an erect
feather, as well as the attributes of vajra, bowl, ritual staff, and cloud-motif lappets
instantly identify the legendary teacher in this most common form as shared by
other bronzes including a 15th-century image illustrated in von Schroeder, Indo-
Tibetan Bronzes, 1981, p. 449, pl. 122C. Like all Tibetan portraits, his likeness
was meant to promote his divine power, especially as the forefather of the
Nyingma lineage, the oldest of Buddhist schools in Tibet.

While stories account of his magical powers and legendary spiritual
accomplishments, textual sources and images to support his life story were
added and enriched just before the 14th century. Bronze casts of his portrayal
began appearing more commonly during the 15th century, particularly in the
Central Tibet where a prospering religious and artistic renaissance was underway.
Various schools, along with local kings and neighboring countries like China, were
participating in this religious revival which led to huge productions of art, but was
also shadowed by doctrinal differences and polemic attacks amongst Buddhist
schools vying for power both within and outside of Tibet. Endorsing the making
of Padmasambhava’s image would have signified in some regard support for the
Nyingma order and older Buddhist traditions within Tibet.

It would be impossible to say how or if this political dialectic translated directly
into the style of this bronze. What is indicated though in the choices of
Padmasambhava’s portrayal is a syncretic approach which blends the older
models of representing Buddhist art from its Indic routes with the growing religious
powers within Tibet and coming from the Ming emperors in China. The wide
petals of the lotus base and inlaid jewels speaks of Pala and Nepalese designs
favored and repeated for centuries in Tibet. The stippling of the hemline on the
robes, which is also illustrated in another period bronze of Padmasambhava sold
at Sotheby’s, New York, 20 September 2002, lot 74, is idiomatic of motifs used
within Central Tibet at the time. The pleated folds of the robes of the left elbow
and rounded folds across the legs reference an imperial Ming style as illustrated
in both textiles (see Bonhams, Hong Kong, 29 November 2016, lot 123) and
bronzes (see Zangchuan Fojiao Zaoxiang, Hong Kong, 1992, p. 223, no. 212) and
for which other Central Tibetan bronzes of the time also adopted (see an example
sold at Bonhams, Hong Kong, 29 November 2016, lot 124).

Provenance
Lauritz Sunde, Galleri Etnografica, Copenhagen, 1965
Private Danish Collection
Thence by descent

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