Page 47 - Indian, Himalayan and Tibetan Art March 2018

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PROPERTY OF AN INTERNATIONAL COLLECTOR
A BRONZE STUPA INLAID WITH
COPPER
Western Himalayas, circa 15th
Century
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 13469.
Height: 12 ½ in. (31.7 cm)

PROVENANCE
Sotheby’s London, 21st October 1993, lot 398.
Since its acquisition from Sotheby’s London
in October 1993, the current work has been
personally reconsecrated by the Gyalwang
Drukpa, Jigme Pema Wangchen, and # lled with
sacred objects and prayers from the Drukpa
Kagyu Buddhist lineage. Also known as the Red
Hat Lineage, the Drukpa school has % ourished
in Ladakh, the Western Himalayas, and most
notably in Bhutan, where it is the dominant
lineage and state religion.
The spiritual head of the Drukpa Kagyu lineage,
the current Gyalwang Drukpa is an internationally
renowned activist and educator, and the
recipient of both the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals Honour as well as the Green
Hero Award, presented by the President of India,
in 2010. He is a # erce proponent of womens’
rights, and the founder of the Druk Gawa Khilwa
nunneries in Kathmandu and Ladakh, the home of
the now famous “Kung Fu Nuns”.
In 2012, under the leadership of the Gyalwa
Drukpa, the sacred Buddhist site at Nangchen,
China was restored and reconsecrated. This site
include the world’s largest statue of Amitabha,
as well as the Ashoka Stupa, celebrating one of
the 84,000 pillars or edicts built by Ashoka (reign
c.&268 – c.&232 BCE), the Indian emperor of the
Maurya Dynasty.
$ 25,000-35,000

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INDIAN, HIMALAYAN AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN WORKS OF ART 45