Page 118 - 2021 March 17th, Indian and Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art, Christie's New York City

443
A RARE SILVER- AND COPPER- INLAID BRONZE FIGURE OF
PRAJNAPARAMITA
POSSIBLY WESTERN HIMALAYAS, GILGIT STYLE, 11TH CENTURY
8√ in. (22.5 cm.) high
$15,000-20,000
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, New York, 1970s, by repute.
LITERATURE:
Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 24647.

可能為喜馬拉亞西部 吉爾吉特風格 十一世紀 銅嵌銀與紅銅般若 佛母 薩像
來源:
私人珍藏，紐約，1970年代（傳）。
出版：
“喜馬拉雅藝術資源”（Himalayan Art Resources），編號24647。

The present lot represents a highly unique figure of Prajnaparamita, ‘the Perfection
of Wisdom.’ Cast in a style appearing to replicate a seventh century Gilgit bronze
figure, this work was likely produced in the Western Himalayas several centuries
later. As the Western Himalayan kingdoms adopted Buddhism, practitioners
looked to the regions of Kashmir, Swat, and Northern India for artistic and religious
influence. Patrons imported bronze works and artisans from these outside
regions, and also commissioned works to be made in the likeness of collected
antique figures.

The present figure closely resembles an inscribed seventh-century Gilgit bronze
figure of Prajnaparamita sold at Sotheby’s New York, 1 April 2005, lot 50, also
illustrated by O. von Hinüber in “Three New Bronzes from Gilgit,” in Annual Report
of the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University
for the Academic Year 2006, 2007, p. 44, plate 3. Both stand upon a lotus base in
the abhanga pose, prominently flexed at the hip. They wear a similar tight-fitting
bodice which reveals their navals in a crescent-shaped pattern, a style of dress
evidenced in many other Gilgit bronze images of females. The scarves hanging
from their elbows and the skirts flanking their legs are executed in a similarly flat
style, with the Western Himalayan example displaying an incised floral motif.
Another possible source of inspiration for the current work were the bronzes of
Himachal Pradesh; compare, for example, with a large figure of Shakti Devi, the
main image in the Shakti Devi Temple in Chatrarhi in Chamba, dated to the first
half of the eighth century, and illustrated by U. von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan
Bronzes, 1981, Hong Kong, pp. 144-145, fig. 23E. Both the current bronze and
the Chamba example are depicted with four arms holding the same implements
in each hand. The representation of the headress fronting the chignon, with
large stacked circular jewel motifs, and the beaded necklace that falls between
the breasts and off to the side, are remarkably similar to those found in the
current image.