Page 16 - Bonhams, Images of Devotion, April 21 2021

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A SILVER AND COPPER INLAID BRASS FIGURE OF This skillfully cast portrait bronze can be confidently identified as
LOWO KHENCHEN SONAM LHUNDRUP, Sonam Lhundrup (c.1456-1532), the Khenchen (‘Great Abbot’) of the
ABBOT OF THE KINGDOM OF LO Kingdom of Lo, situated on the Tibetan border in present-day Mustang,
TIBET, 15TH/16TH CENTURY Nepal. He is often depicted with a portly body and rounded features,
Himalayan Art Resources item no.68305 sporting a tonsure with long sideburns, and holding a flaming triratna
11.2 cm (4 3/8 in.) high in the palm of his left hand, as in the present example. The hems of his
monastic shirt and outer robe are densely chased with floral patterns
enhanced by silver and copper inlay.
HKD150,000 - 250,000
As an eminent religious leader, Sonam Lhundrup is well represented
西藏 十五/十六世紀 throughout numerous portrait sculptures, with several in the Tsang
錯銀錯紅銅木斯塘寺廟住持羅俄堪千索南倫珠銅像 sculptural style, as the present work. Compare with two other
contemporaneous bronzes, identifying the master by inscription, sold
at Bonhams, New York, 14 March 2017, lots 3275 & 3276.

Exhibited
Casting the Divine: Sculptures of the Nyingjei Lam Collection, Rubin
Museum of Art, New York, 2012-13.

Provenance
The Nyingjei Lam Collection 菩薩道收藏, acquired in the 1980s
On loan to the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2005-2018
(L2005.9.105)

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