Page 56 - Indian, Himalayan and Tibetan Art March 2018

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PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE SWISS COLLECTOR This superb sculpture of a crowned Buddha Shakyamuni is
a testament to the powerful legacy of the Newari aesthetic
A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF CROWNED imported into Tibet from the Kathmandu Valley in the medieval
BUDDHA INLAID WITH SILVER
period. Displaying tremendous power and presence, this # gure
Tibet, 14th Century demonstrates the marriage of classical Nepalese and Tibetan
sculptural elements in its luxuriant gilding, elegant beading and
the Buddha seated in vajraparyankasana on a double-lotus engraving, the cold gilding of the face and use of polychromy,
throne, the curled tufts of hair with blue polychrome and high
and delicate use of inlay of semi-precious stones.
ushnisha, wearing a foliate crown with bronze and inlaid silver
beading and further inset with semi-precious stones, the crown This powerful and iconic bronze depicting Buddha Shakyamuni
sash cascading behind the ears, the wide straight forehead in the earth-touching gesture or bhumisparsha mudra recalls
with urna inlaid with semi-precious stone, the face and neck the moment of his Enlightenment, in which he called upon
heightened with cold gold, the right hand touching the earth in the earth as his witness. The Nepalese in% uence is strongly
bhumisparsha mudra, the left hand at the lap demonstrated in the wide forehead with straight hairline, the
gilt domed ushnisha, inlaid urna, the short neck, the broad and
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 13473.
muscular shoulders with torso narrowing to a de# ned waist.
Height: 11 ⅖ in. (28.5 cm)
Compare the elegant hem, drape and twist of the Buddha’s
PROVENANCE sanghati along the upper arm and body with left shoulder
Yan Wing Arts Co., Hong Kong, 1991-1995. exposed, with fourteenth century bronzes from the Nepalese
school in Tibet, see. Ulrich von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures
$ 80,000-120,000 in Tibet, Vol. II, p. 962—3, # gs. 231A and 231C.

($%*" #%"+)

54 SOTHEBY’S