Page 10 - Bonhams, Images of Devotion, April 21 2021

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A GILT COPPER ALLOY STUPA During the Tang dynasty, Buddhist patronage flourished alongside
TANG DYNASTY, 7TH/8TH CENTURY commercial and cultural exchange with China’s neighbors. After the
Himalayan Art Resources item no.16982 initial introduction of Buddhism to China during the Eastern Han
13.7 cm (5 3/8 in.) high period, the diminutive finials on Indian stupa dome structures grew
to form tiered parasols, and eventually multi-storied pagodas.
HKD80,000 - 120,000
This stupa is configured with a slender hemispherical body raised
on a stepped platform, topped by a harmika (a square structure
唐 七/八世紀 銅鎏金佛塔 derived from the fenced enclosures of early shrines), and crowned by
a three-tiered parasol. Close parallels can be found with Gandharan
antecedents in the Art Gallery of New South Wales (27.2000.a-b;
Menzies, Asian Collections, Sydney and London, 2004, p.26) and
another in the Indian Museum, Calcutta (Luczanits, Gandhara, Mainz,
2008, p.174).

Provenance
The Nyingjei Lam Collection 菩薩道收藏, acquired in the 1990s

8 | BONHAMS