Page 98 - 2019 September 11th Christie's New York Chiense Art Himalayan bronzes and art

PROPERTY FROM AN ITALIAN ESTATE
345
A LARGE SILVER- AND COPPER-INLAID BRONZE FIGURE OF
SHADAKSHARI AVALOKITESHVARA
TIBET, 15TH CENTURY
18¿ in. (46 cm.) high

$80,000-120,000

PROVENANCE
Private collection, Italy, acquired by the family of the present owner circa 1970
thence by descent.

The present seated fgure of Shadakshari Lokeshvara exemplifes the melding physiognomy, as is the rectangular third eye inlaid with a colored stone. The
of styles often found in Himalayan art. Certain stylistic qualities, such as the simple necklace with three jeweled drops, pointed arm bands and the foliate
drapery and nearly-horizontal cinching of the dhoti at the pinched waist and crown are found in bronzes from Central and Western Tibet. The presence of
the mantle-like shawl draped over the shoulders are very similar to those seen scriptural scrolls within the consecration chamber further places the fgure
in fourteenth-century Buddhist bronzes from the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) in within a Tibetan Buddhist context.
China. Compare, for example, with a bronze fgure of Marichi illustrated by R.
Bigler in Before Yongle: Chinese and Tibeto-Chinese Buddhist Sculpture of the The present work can be compared to a bronze fgure of Sarvavid Vairochana,
13th and 14th Centuries, Zurich, 2015, p. 34, fg.5. It is likely that the present corresponding to a fourteenth-ffteenth-century style, in the collection of
Shadakshari Lokeshvara would have originally sat on a base similar to the cited Drigung Monastery in Lhasa, illustrated by U. von Schroeder in Buddhist
example illustrated by Bigler. Sculptures in Tibet, vol. II, Hong Kong, 2001, p. 1205, no. 329B-C. Both works
display similar blending of Yuan-period drapery and bodily proportions with
In contrast, the face and jewelry of the present work are distinctly Tibetan Tibetan facial features and jewelry treatment, and illustrate the cross-cultural
in style. The facial features, which are square and linear, contrast with the exchange of styles within Buddhist sculpture of this period. The fusion of
plump rounded features of the Chinese sculptural style, in particular the such styles can create confusion about the dating of these works, but the
Marichi illustrated by Bigler. The protruding arched eyebrows, elongated ffteenth-century attribution of the present work has been confrmed by
almond-shaped eyes and straight narrow nose are all hallmarks of Tibetan various scholars.
Himalayan Art Resource (himalayanart.org), item no. 24394

“Sarvavid Vairocana (Tib.: Kun rig rNam par snang
mdzad); Tibetan Monastic Period, 14th/15th Century,”
U. von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Hong
Kong, 2001, p. 1205, 329B.

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