Page 55 - Chinese Art Auction April 25, 2020 2020 Galerie Zacke

The second tier of the Tashi gomang stupas of densatil, Followers of the charismatic Phagmo Drupa
or “Tier of buddhas” Dorje Gyalpo (1110–1170) constructed the
More specifically, the bronze relates to one of the pre-eminent artistic Densatil Monastery. His school, which came
projects of the 14th and 15th century in Tibet, the Tashi Gomang stupas of to be known as Phagmo Drupa Kagyu, was
Densatil. These tall gilded stupas were packed with Buddha and Bodhisattva one of the four primary schools of the Kagyu
sculptures affixed with tangs protruding from the back of each’s lotus base. lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Its noble house
As said, the present sculpture has the remnants of such a tang. became so powerful that their dynasty lasted
The relatively simplistic form and lack of ornamentation is not common at from the mid-fourteenth to the mid-fifteenth
Densatil. However, photographic evidence captured by Pietro Mele, who century. Eventually it had died out by the end
accompanied the scholar and explorer Giuseppe Tucci to Tibet in 1948, of the seventeenth century, but the Densatil
prior to the monastery’s destruction, shows related examples set against Monastery survived intact under the control
cast back panels in the second tier of the Tashi Gomang stupa, also called of other Tibetan Buddhist schools until it was
the “Tier of Buddhas” (see Olaf Czaja, Medieval Rule in Tibet: The Rlangs destroyed in the mid-twentieth century. Today the second, third and
Clan and the Political and religious History of the ruling House of Phag the monastery is undergoing reconstruction fourth tier of the tashi
Gomang stupas of Densatil
mo gru pa. With a Study of the Monastic Art of Gdan sa mthil. Wien, 2013, thanks to the efforts of the Tibetan (highlighted in yellow),
pp. 661 and 763, pls. 116, 266 and 267. For further discussion on the Autonomous region Ministry of Culture and the “tier of Buddhas”
tier of Buddhas at the Tashi Gomang stupa, see ibidem, pp. 424-6. Also the Drigung (Drikung) Kagyu school. being the lowest
see Olaf Czaja and Adriana Proser, Golden Visions of Densatil: A Tibetan
Buddhist Monastery, Asia Society, New york, 2014, fig. 21 and 27). The AucTION ResulT
“Tier of Buddhas” was filled with large Buddha statues together with their cOMPARIsON
entourage of bodhisattvas. Each such large Buddha was accompanied by Compare with a closely related
many smaller Buddha figures of alternating sizes adorning the panels to its statue, also attributed to
left and right. Most surviving fragments from these tiers have holes or tangs Densatil, at Bonham’s New York
that originally fixed the statues to the internal wooden support of the stupa. in Indian, Himalayan & Southeast
Asian Art, 17 March 2014, lot 16,
While no other examples of Buddhas of this exact type are presently known USD $461,000.
to this author and the photographic archives are not conclusive, the cited
comparative examples and quality of the Buddha provide a compelling
argument for a Densatil attribution. 鎏金銅釋迦穆尼坐蓮像，可能來自丹薩替寺
西藏，十四至十五世紀。藝術家以簡潔與圓潤柔和的線條傳達佛陀的力量和存在，他
The densatil Monastery has long been considered one of the great 的右手施觸地印，傳釋迦牟尼在修行成道時，不斷有魔王前來擾亂，以期阻止釋迦牟
treasures of Tibet. Constructed at the end of the twelfth century in a 尼的清修。後來釋迦迦牟尼即以右手指觸地，令大地為證，於是地神出來證明釋 迦
牟尼已經修成佛道，終使魔王懼伏。
remote, rocky area of central Tibet, it was most famed for its special stupas
- reliquaries that housed the remains of 來源：德國慕尼黑Joachim Baader 的Schoettle Ostasiatica藝廊。杜塞爾多夫Dr.
venerated Buddhist teachers. The stupas at Horst Keller1991年2月11日購於上述藝廊。附原始發票。 請注意，在發票上，這件
Densatil were of a type called Tashi Gomang 造像斷代為十八世紀。
(Many Doors of Auspiciousness). They were 品相：未密封，使用痕跡，凹痕，翹曲，老磨損，顔料與清漆殘餘，銅綠，小缺損，
都完全符合這尊造像的年代。 總體狀況良好。
multi-tiered, sculptural gilt copper structures 重量：4.5 公斤
that stood more than ten feet tall and were 尺寸：高27.8 厘米
resplendent with inlays of semiprecious 拍賣結果比較：一件相似的也傳爲丹薩替寺的造像2014年3月17日售于紐約邦翰思《
stones. Prior to the destruction of Densatil the lower section of a 印度、喜馬拉雅與東南亞藝術》，拍號16，成交價USD $461,000。
during China’s Cultural Revolution (1966– tashi Gomang stupa at
1978), eight of them dating between 1208 Densatil, image taken estimate euR 30.000,-
and 1432 stood in the Monastery’s main hall. in 1948 by Pietro Mele Starting price EUr 15.000,-

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