Page 78 - Indian, Himalayan and Tibetan Art March 2018

Yamantaka Vajrabhairava is an important meditational deity
Photograph circa 1940’s courtesy of the consignor
Photograph circa 1940’s courtesy of the consignor
76 SOTHEBY’S
for the Gelugpa, the order of Tibetan Buddhism to which the
Qianlong emperor and the Changkya Hutuktu adhered. The
deity is an emanation of Manjushri, the lord of wisdom, whose
peaceful head appears framed by $ aming hair atop the array of
Vajrabhairava’s eight wrathful faces.
The pedestal style of this dramatic sculpture of Vajrabhairava
and his consort Vajravetali recalls the stepped and moulded
bases of medieval eastern and northern Indian bronzes, as
seen throughout the signi! cant collection of ! ne early Indian
metal sculpture amassed in the Qing Palace Collection, see
The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum:
Buddhist Statues of Tibet, Hong Kong, 2003, pp. 22-76.
Rolpai Dorje (1717-1786), the third Changkya Hutuktu and
Buddhist preceptor to the Qianlong emperor (r. 1735-1796),
was inspired by the Indian origins of Buddhism and was
an admirer of early Indian Buddhist art. He oversaw the
production of artworks for the court, was responsible for
iconographic programs and innovation in sculptural style. His
appreciation of medieval Indian art informed the sculptural
traditions of the Qianlong period.
The homage paid to Indian Buddhism and sculptural style is
exempli! ed by the renowned eighteenth century Pala style
Tara inlaid with gold, silver and copper in the Palace Collection,
which has a similar pedestal style to the Vajrabhairava, see
Palace Museum, Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism Collected
in the Qing Palace, Beijing, 1992, pl. 60: also compare the
Qing Palace Ekavira Vajrabhairava with similar stepped and
moulded lotus base, ibid, pl. 66.
Also compare with a similar eighteenth century bronze group
depicting Vajrabhairava and Shakti, sold at Christie’s New
York, 18 March 2015, lot 4023.