Page 56 - Bonhams, Images of Devotion, April 21 2021
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A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF WHITE JAMBHALA
QING DYNASTY, 18TH/19TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.16979
15.3 cm (6 in.) high
HKD200,000 - 300,000
清 十八/十九世紀 銅鎏金白財神像
One of the five principal forms of Jambhala, White Jambhala is an emanation of
Avalokiteshvara, born from the bodhisattva’s right eye to end the suffering of those
in poverty. He is therefore worshipped as the God of Wealth, but also invoked to
cure sickness and remove karmic obstacles. Here White Jambhala sits sideways
on the back of a horned dragon, his prescribed mount. He would have originally
held a ritual staff and a trident, as seen in a less refined example in the American
Museum of Natural History (HAR 94964).
His stylized flaming hair, thick brow, and billowing scarf are typical of Qing bronze
sculptures of the 18th and 19th centuries. The dragon is finely modeled, with its
head dynamically turning back and mouth wide open. Compare with other Qing
bronzes of the subject sold at Sotheby’s, Paris, 10 December 2019, lot 25, and
Christie’s, Paris, 14 December 2010, lot 295.
Provenance
Mehmet Hassan Asian Art, Bangkok, 1995
END OF SALE
54 | BONHAMS
