Page 44 - Irving Collection Part II Chinese Art

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L A C Q U E R • J A D E • B R O N Z E • I N K T H E R V I N G C O L L E C T I O N 髹金飾玉 - 歐雲伉儷珍藏

1104 A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF GUHYASAMAJA AKSHOBYAVAJRA
NEPAL, 18TH-19TH CENTURY

Seated in dyanasana with consort Sparshavajri in his arms, their central
faces gazing at each other, surmounted by jeweled crowns, each with a
vajra and bell in their primary hands and various implements in the others,
wearing ornate jewelry and beaded festoons, her legs wrapped around his
waist, all on a single lotus base above a rectangular pedestal adorned with
a draped textile, incised petals, and two lions
7Ω in. (19 cm.) high
$15,000-20,000
PROVENANCE
Alice Boney, New York, by 1980.
The Irving Collection, no. 804.
The present sculpture represents the meditational deity, Akshobyavajra,
as he is described in the Guhyasamaja Tantra, a highly important
Vajrayana Buddhist text describing the unexcelled class of yidam or
meditational deity. Three-headed, six-armed, and in union with his
consort, he represents the ultimate form of Buddha Akshobhya while the
many attributes in his other hands represent the enlightened qualities
of the other four Buddha families. The bright copper tone of this metal
image, upon which small traces of polychrome remain, point to its
Nepalese origin. The pedestal is fashioned like those that more commonly
support the deity in his tathagata manifestation while the inclusion of
lions rather than elephants is unusual, also pointing to the likelihood
of this object’s Newar Buddhist origin, in which there is more
iconographical fexibility.

尼泊爾 十八至十九世紀 銅密集不動金剛坐像

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