Page 54 - Bonhams, Images of Devotion, April 21 2021

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A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF A KARMAPA
TIBET, 17TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.16974
19 cm (7 1/2 in.) high

HKD200,000 - 300,000

西藏 十七世紀 銅鎏金噶瑪巴像

This richly gilded portrait represents a Karmapa, the incarnate leader of the Karma
Kagyu order of Tibetan Buddhism. He wears the diagnostic Karmapa’s ‘black hat’,
with its upturned flaps, half-vajra finial, and cloud motif that has the tails pointing
forward (as opposed to a Sharmapa’s in the opposite direction). This Karmapa
has a determined brow and gaze. He holds a vajra in his lifted right hand and a
jeweled kalasa in his left. It is possible that the figure represents the 9th Karmapa
Wangchuk Dorje (1555-1603), who is often depicted holding a long-life vase
in his left hand while raising his right hand in front of the chest in vitarka mudra
(see a painted portrait of Wangchuk Dorje published in Jackson, The Place of
Provenance, New York, 2012, p.196, fig.9.18).

The lama’s heavy meditation cloak bears short-tailed cloud motifs common to the
Qing dynasty, while the finely incised double-cushion and cloth are indicative of
important Qing portraits; see for instance a figure of the Fifth Dalai Lama sold at
Bonhams, Hong Kong, 5 October 2020, lot 38.

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