Page 16 - September 20th 2021, Indian and Himalayan Art Christie's NYC

Property Of The Virginia Museum Of Fine Arts
Sold To Benefit Future Acquisitions

PROPERTY OF THE VIRGINIA MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, SOLD TO BENEFIT
FUTURE ACQUISITIONS
406
A RARE BRONZE FIGURE OF PADMAPANI 印度東北部 帕拉王朝 十一/十二世紀 銅蓮華手觀音坐像
NORTHEASTERN INDIA, PALA PERIOD, 11TH-12TH CENTURY
來源:
4æ in. (12.1 cm.) high Nasli及Alice Heeramaneck伉儷珍藏，鈕約，1969年前。
$40,000-60,000 維吉尼亞州藝術博物館，入藏於1969年 (館藏編號69.8.39)。
PROVENANCE:
Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, New York, before 1968.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, accessioned in 1968 (acc. no. 68.8.39).
LITERATURE:
Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 24663.

Powerfully cast despite its small size, Padmapani Lokeshvara, the
bodhisattva of compassion, is seated in a languid lalitasana pose.
His benevolent gaze and slight grin both veer leftward, an assured
expression surmounted by an elaborate topknot of dreadlocks (jatas). A
long lotus stem wraps around his left wrist, while the other lotus stalk
grows from the base. Two bands of wonderfully flared petals build the
signature Pala-style double lotus base, framed by heavy beaded rims.

This refined and well-provenanced bronze is product of the important
Pala dynasty that flourished in eastern India from the eighth to the
twelfth century — one of the last strongholds of Buddhism in India, as
the subcontinent became increasingly Hindu by the eleventh century.
The period saw a surge in travel in the region among Buddhist
practitioners and laypeople to sacred sites associated with Buddha
Shakyamuni. With this came the expanded propagation of Buddhist
texts and religious icons, particularly bronze sculpture, which were
easily transported by pilgrims. As a result, Pala bronze work achieved an
exceptional level of sophistication and to this day, is revered as one of the
golden eras of the Indian sculptural tradition.

The Pala style traveled from India to Nepal, China and Tibet, and served
as an important foundation for sculptural and painting traditions in
subsequent centuries. The double-lotus base over the stepped plinth
is, for instance, a widely-used style created during this period and
emulated widely for many centuries thereafter. The lasting influence is
clear as even much later Tibetan workshops continued to emulate Pala
styles; for example, see a seventeenth-to-eighteenth century Tibetan
bronze figure of Padmapani sold at Christie’s New York 20 March 2019,
lot 616 (Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 24470), demonstrating clear
Pala influences through the figure’s languid pose, double lotus base, and
heavy lotus stalks flanking either shoulder, hallmarks of the Pala style.
Also compare the present lot to a contemporaneous figure of Manjushri,
also formerly in the Nasli and Alice Heeramenack Collection, published
by U. von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 2008, p. 282,
no. 69B. Both works demonstrate the Pala artists' masterful casting
of languorous poses and similar stylistic elements such as the flared
petals, beaded rims, and fashioning of the lotus stalks. (reverse)