Page 110 - 2019 September 11th Christie's New York Chiense Art Himalayan bronzes and art

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE DUTCH COLLECTION
350
A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF
SONAM CHOKYI LANGPO (1439-1504)
TIBET, 16TH CENTURY
4√ in. (12.4 cm.) high

$8,000-12,000

PROVENANCE
Collection of Mr Willem Lodder (1918-2005), acquired in
Amsterdam mid-1970s, by repute; thence by descent.

This engaging portrait depicts a Tibetan teacher bestowing
wisdom with traditional abhaya mudra with his proper-right
hand, perhaps from the pecha or religious text he holds in in his
proper-left. An inscription on the back of his stepped throne
identifes him as Gelukpa lama, Sonam Chokyi Langpo. This
ffteenth-century fgure, who in his lifetime was recognized as
founder of an important Gelukpa hermitage in Central Tibet
called Wensa Monastery, was posthumously recognized in
the Tashilhunpo religious tradition as a Panchen Lama. The
Panchen Lama, a political and religious incarnation lineage
frst identifed by the Fifth Dalai Lama in 1667, is understood
to be an emanation of Buddha Amitabha. Those recognized in
their lifetimes acted as the abbots of Tashilhunpo Monastery
of Shigatse in Tsang Province (Central Tibet) and were often
deeply involved in Tibet-China relations.
This rich, gilt-bronze is particularly warm in both the material
sense, as a product of the copper-heavy alloy and bright
gilding, and in the aesthetic, due to to the artists’ modeling
with soft facial features and lifelike hands. Gilded portraits
like this were commonly made in the sixteenth century and
thereafter. Based on the specifc facial features and body
type, it is likely that this was a portrait created soon after the
hierarch’s death by someone familiar with the deceased.
Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 24525.