Page 261 - Sotheby's October 3 2017 Tantra Buddhost Art

fig. 1
The historical Shakyamuni Buddha is envisaged in this statue
seated at Bodh Gaya in eastern India, having vowed to remain
in meditation to penetrate the mystery of samsara. He was
interrupted by the demon hordes of Mara, the ‘lord of the
senses’. The Buddha overcame their attempts at seduction
and distraction, and in defiance moved his right hand from
the meditation position to touch the ground before him. The
gesture, bhumishparsha mudra, signifies the moment of
triumph over Mara in calling the earth spirit to witness his
claim to enlightenment.
This classic iconography of Shakyamuni Buddha is famously
represented in two complete Yongle altar shrines, one in the
British Museum, illustrated in Wladimir Zwalf, ed., Buddhism:
Art and Faith, London, 1985, cat. 305, and the other from the
Speelman Collection, sold in these rooms, 7th October 2006,
lot 808. Yongle reign-marked images of Shakyamuni Buddha
in this smaller scale are relatively rare. Only one was recorded include a classic version in the Palace Museum, Beijing,
in Ulrich von Schroeder’s survey of Tibetan monastery
collections, preserved in the Potala Palace, illustrated in
Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Hong Kong, 2001, vol. II, pl.
THE HEART OF TANTRA – BUDDHIST ART INCLUDING PROPERTY FROM THE NYINGJEI LAM COLLECTION 259
Gilt-bronze figure of Shakyamuni Buddha, mark and period
of Yongle,
from the Tuyet Nguyet and Stephen Markbreiter collection,
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7th October 2010, lot 2142
358A; another, with the reign mark erased, is now in a private
collection, Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong
Kong 1981, pl. 146D.
A closely related Yongle gilt-bronze Shakyamuni from the
Tuyet Nguyet and Stephen Markbreiter collection was sold in
these rooms, 7th October 2010, lot 2142 (fig.1). The size and
iconography of the current figure is identical, but the form of
the current figure slightly differs, more slender in proportion
with higher sloping shoulders. The treatment of the elegant
lotus pedestal also departs from the standard convention
of Yongle bronzes, more sharply defined and curving out
at the tips. The overall condition is good, and it retains the
consecration plate beneath engraved with the designated
visvavajra.
Other Yongle reign-marked gilt-bronze figures of Shakyamuni
illustrated in Splendors from the Yongle (1403-1424) and
Xuande (1426-1435) Reigns of China’s Ming Dynasty, Beijing,
2010, p. 244, pl. 118, and the large example (55 cm) sold in
these rooms, 8th October 2013, lot 3075.