Page 34 - Indian and Himalayan Art, March 15, 2017 Sotheby's NYC

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222 PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE ENGLISH COLLECTOR

A BRONZE PORTRAIT OF A KARMAPA A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF
Tibet, School of Chöying Dorje, AVALOKITESHVARA ATTRIBUTED BY
17th Century or later INSCRIPTION TO THE TENTH KARMAPA
CHÖYING DORJE
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 35908. Eastern Tibet or Yunnan Province, 17th
Height: 8 ½ in. (21.4 cm) Century

PROVENANCE Himalayan Art Resources item no. 13400.
Ex-collection Max Müller (1867-1960), German Consul to Height: 6 ⅜ in. (16.2 cm)
China; thence by descent to Irmgard Müller-Doertenbach
(1909-2011). EXHIBITED
Acquired by the present owner in 1992.
Elements in the current work present similarities to other “Masterworks: Jewels of the Collection”, Rubin Museum of Art,
published works associated to the atelier of the tenth Karmapa 4 February 2015–11 January 2016 and 10 February 2016–16
Chöying Dorje. Compare the birds and foliage at the apex of January 2017
the bronze; the snowlions with crossed paws in the throne
base; and the unique beaded loop between the lions with LITERATURE
another bronze portrait of a Karmapa from the collection of
Alan Chen, see ed. K. Debreczeny, The Black Hat Eccentric: I. Alsop, ‘Sculpture of Chöying Dorjé’, in K. Debreczeny, The
Artistic Visions of the Tenth Karmapa, New York, 2012, p. 231, Black Hat Eccentric: Artistic Visions of the Tenth Karmapa,
New York, 2012, p. 219, g. 8.9.
g. 8.19.
I. Alsop, The Sculpture of Chöying Dorjé, Tenth Karmapa,
$ 30,000-50,000 asianart.com, 2013, g. 8.9.

32 SOTHEBY’S W. Luo, ‘A Survey of a Willow-branch Guanyin Attributed to the
Tenth Karmapa in the Palace Museum and Related Questions’,
in K. Debreczeny and G. Tuttle eds., The Tenth Karmapa &
Tibet’s Turbulent Seventeenth Century, Chicago, 2016, p. 161,

g. 7.5.

ᅮ$ 200,000-300,000

This sculpture of Avalokiteshvara holding a willow branch is
one of only seven sculptures with inscriptions that attribute
them to Chöying Dorje, the brilliant and eccentric tenth
incarnation of the Karmapa lineage, one of the three most
important Lamas of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

Among this group of seven inscribed sculptures, this one is
unusual in being one of two very similar sculptures of the
same subject. The other inscribed example of a willow-branch
Guanyin or Avalokiteshvara is now in the Palace Museum,
Beijing. Both are about the same size and are in a very similar
style. It is very likely that the tenth Karmapa made both of
these during his long exile from central Tibet, when he stayed
in Lijiang in northern Yunnan.

Both sculptures portray Avalokiteshvara holding a
willow branch, or the “Willow-branch Guanyin”, a form of
Avalokiteshvara popular in China during the late Sui (ca. 581-
618) and the early Tang (618-906) dynasties.

Avalokiteshvara is portrayed standing in a straight and frontal
posture, grasping a willow branch in his right hand at shoulder
level, while his left hand holds a jar at his waist. He is dressed
in full robes, which include scarves that fall on either side of his
body from his forearms to his feet. He wears a three- or ve –
leafed crown; long cloth lappets are attached to the ends of the
crown over each ear which fall over the shoulders. His jewelry
is striking, featuring an simple necklace with a circular large
pendant hanging against his chest and an elaborate chain-like
ornament that falls from each shoulder to meet in front of his
body just below the waist, passing through a ring and looping

continued