Page 40 - Contenplating the Divie Buddhist Art Christies Hong Kong

ANOTHER PROPERTY
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帕拉王朝十一
A VERY RARE SILVER-INLAID BRONZE
MANDALA OF VAJRAVARAHI
PALA, 11-12TH CENTURY

The deity stands in dancing posture over two prone bodies on
the centre of a lotus flower, her right hand holding the karttrika
／十二 and her left supporting the kapala and khatvanga. Adorned
with a festooned belt and jewellery inlaid with silver, her face
displays a wrathful expression and is decorated with a boar
head and a skull tiara. She is surrounded by eight movable
世紀 petals, the one behind her engraved with a Kandaroha standing
in pratyalidhasana over a prostrate figure, and the seven petals
each with a kalasa to the inside, all supported by an elaborate
openwork stalk composed of floral and leaf motifs over a circular
銅錯銀金剛亥母壇城 base with braided rims. The lower section of the base with an
inscription.
7 ⅞ in. (20 cm.) high
HK$3,500,000-6,000,000 US$450,000-770,000
PROVENANCE
Acquired from an Asian private collector on 12 October 1989
This remarkable and iconic concept of a lotus-shaped mandala has fig. 1 Tibet Museum - Fondation Alain Bordier
圖一 瑞士西藏博物館 Alain Bordier 基金會
articulated petals that close to form a lotus bud. The construction
is a technical tour-de-force, with the stem mechanically joined to
the separately cast base. First conceived in Northeastern India
during the Pala Period (9th-13th centuries), very few examples
remain from the period. These examples include a mandala of
Chakrasamvara (22.5 cm. high) dated 15th century in Potala Palace,
Lhasa, illustrated in Tibet Treasures from the Roof of the World,
Taipei, 2010, p.116, no.30; a mandala of Buddha Shakyamuni (14.6
cm. high) dated 11th-12th century in Tibet Museum, Switzerland,
illustrated in Buddhist Sculptures of the Alain Bordier Foundation,
Hong Kong, 2010, pp. 16-17, pl. 5b (fig. 1); and a lotus mandala of
Hevajra (19 cm. high) dated 13th century in the Palace Museum,
Beijing, illustrated in Classics of the Forbidden City: Tibet Buddhist
Sculptures, Beijing, 2012, p.108, no. 50 (fig. 2).
來源
1989 年 10 月 12 日購自亞洲私人藏家
這尊精美絕倫的蓮花形壇城有八瓣可開合的花瓣，展開時如蓮花盛放，閉
合時若花苞待放。 花莖與底座完美銜接，堪稱一件工藝傑作。此造型源
於帕拉時期（九至十三世紀）的印度東北部，存世同時期相似作品極為罕
見，參考：拉薩布達拉宮所藏一件十五世紀勝樂金剛壇城，高 22.5 公分，
載於《Tibet Treasures from the Roof of the World》，台北，2010
年，頁 116，圖錄圖版 30 號；瑞士西藏博物館所藏一件十一至十二世
紀釋迦牟尼壇城，高 14.6 公分，載於《Buddhist Sculptures of the
Alain Bordier Foundation》，香港，2010 年，頁 16-17，圖錄圖版
5b（圖一）；以及北京故宮博物院所藏一件十三世紀喜金剛壇城，高 19
公分，著錄於《故宮經典：藏傳佛教造像》，北京，2012 年，頁 108， fig. 2 Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing
圖二 北京故宮博物院藏品
圖錄圖版 50 號 ( 圖二 )。

36 Contemplating The Divine – Fine Buddhist Art 正觀自在 — 佛教藝術精品