Page 60 - Bonhams IMages of Devotion, Hong Kong Nov 30 2022

1020
A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF VAIROCANA
TIBET, 15TH/16TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 4734
22 cm (8 5/8 in.) high

HKD300,000 - 500,000
西藏 十五/十六世紀 銅鎏金大日如來像

Likely representing the crowned Buddha, this ornamented appearance of the great
chakravartin, or universal ruler, unites spiritual and worldly status as the archetype
of Buddhist kingship. All the inherent features of the Buddha representing his
enlightened form with raised cranial protuberance, elongated earlobes, lotus
posture, and gentle mudra signifying the moment of his awakening, evoke an air
of quiet simplicity. The addition of the five-part crown, featuring a triple stacked
central pendant flanked by foliate supports shouldering gems and a looped sash
with streaming ends, is a majestic display of a reigning monarch.

Recent scholarship suggests that the origin of the crowned Buddha arose within
Buddhist communities to confront the growing political and religious power held
by Hindus in India, beginning in the first millennium but especially evident in the
late fifth century. Emphasizing the Buddha’s spiritual authority allowed Buddhists
to assert themselves within a growing context of favoritism towards the Hindu
pantheon of deities. (Bautze-Picron, The Bejewelled Buddha from India to Burma,
2010) This concept of the Dharma King, unifying the monarchic and religious
sovereign, developed into an iconographic tradition beginning in Eastern India,
as depicted in a crowned Buddha from Bihar in the collection of the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York (1993.311a, b), which was later favored as a prototype
by Newari ateliers. The tapered waist hugged by a curved chevron skirt and the
broadened shoulders echo those seen in Bihar, while the delicate depiction of
the face, the double beaded hemline of the robe, the fishtail pleats over the left
shoulder, and cockle shell folds over the base bear the natural elegance of Newari
design. See a similarly modeled example from the Claude de Marteau Collection,
sold at Bonhams, Paris, 4 October 2022, lot 24 and another gilt-bronze in the
Museé Guimet (HAR 85959).

Provenance
Private Paris Collection

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