Page 190 - Sotheby's October 3 2017 Tantra Buddhost Art

ADAMANTINE TERRIFIER
Displaying tremendous power and presence, this magnificent
group of Yamantaka Vajrabhairava and Vajravetali, arguably
the greatest example in private hands, demonstrates the
marriage of Nepalese and Tibetan sculptural elements with
its rich gilding, powerful and sensuous physical modelling,
complex and sensitive casting and chasing, and masterful
use of semi-precious stone inlay. On every area of the current
sculpture, details are rendered with meticulous attention
to detail. The iconography of the ferocious emanation is
articulated with truly elegant proportions and elegant spacing.
The only other Tibetan fifteenth century gilt-bronze figure of
this iconography of similar large size, elegance and proportion,
is preserved in the Red Palace in the Potala collection, Lhasa,
illustrated in Ulrich von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in
Tibet, Hong Kong, 2001, vol. II, pp. 1050-1051, cat. no. 265B-C
(fig. 1). It shares several features, including the bulbous petals hand. The buffalo-headed god of destruction bellows with
with stylised tips and lower edge of tiny pearls along the base
of the current figure. It is also applied with cold gold atop the
gilded faces, with graceful draping of the bone ornaments
inlaid with turquoise, and rows of supine animals, birds and
figures trampled under the feet of the divine couple.
However, the structural quality and casting of the current
figure transcends all other examples. Where typically the
complex iconography of Yamantaka and Vajravetali is
expressed in a formulaic manner, on the current sculpture
every minute detail is conveyed with individual artistic quality,
from the sharpness of the ferocious facial expressions,
through to the opulent jewellery and the skilfully rendered
attributes the figures are depicted holding, including the
kapala and ritual chopper. Even the various beings which
are depicted as being trampled upon retain their individual
identities, each with varying expressions of discomfort and
pain on their taut bodies. Unlike other recorded examples,
including the Potala Yamantaka, the intricately cast base on
the present lot has a superbly engraved scrolling cloud motif
along the upper platform, edged with a row of tiny pearls
above the double-lotus throne.
188 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比
Gilt bronzes of this exceptional quality and size depicting
Vajrabhairava and consort are extremely rare in the market,
and no other figure of comparable quality has ever been
offered at auction. The closest example sold at auction is
the 16th century example from the Sporer collection, sold at
Christie’s New York, 15th September 2015, lot 18.
Yamantaka Vajrabhairava is one of the most formidable deities
in the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon, the fearsome manifestation
of the bodhisattva Manjushri, lord of transcendent wisdom.
Vajrabhairava, the Adamantine Terrifier, stands in militant
alidhasana with his eight legs planted on subdued gods,
birds and animals, with a fan of thirty-four arms surrounding
his massive bulk. He grasps a panoply of solidly cast ritual
weapons and implements, including kartrika in the primary
right hand and a kapala filled with amrita in the primary left
flaming lips parted and fangs bared, proclaiming triumph over
ignorance, suffering and death. The myriad arms and heads
and trampling legs symbolise the deity’s total mastery over all
elements that bind sentient beings to the wheel of existence,
the constant cycle of birth and death, passions, desires and
fears. The bull’s head signifies Vajrabhairava’s conquest of
the buffalo-headed god, Yama, the lord of death in ancient
Indian mythology, thus eliminating the obstacle of death
(yama-antaka) through the enlightened Buddhist state of
transcendent wisdom.
The yidam and consort wear the tantric adornments of
the six bone ornaments representing the six paramitas or
perfections. These textural bone ornaments appear in beaded
rows in the present work, and also represent the Five Dhyani
Buddhas: (1) the crown of the head, symbolising dhyana or
concentration and Buddha Akshobhya; (2) the earrings that
symbolise kshanti or patience and the Buddha Amitabha; (3)
the necklace that symbolises dana or generosity and Buddha
Ratnasambhava; (4) the armlets and anklets that symbolise
shila or discipline and the Buddha Vairocana; (5) the girdle
and apron that symbolises virya or exertion and Buddha
Amoghasiddhi; and (6) the crisscrossed torso ornament that
symbolises prajña or wisdom and Buddha Vajradhara. From
Vajrabhairava’s neck hangs a garland of fifty-one severed
heads strung on a length of human intestine and the hair of
a corpse, signifying both the purification of speech and the
purification of the fifty-one mental factors according to the
Chittamatra or Mind-Only School as described by Asanga.