Page 148 - Bonhams NYC Indian and Himalayan Art March 2019

919
A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF CHAKRASAMVARA
CENTRAL TIBET, 15TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.33006
10 in. (25.4 cm) high
$200,000 - 300,000
藏中 十五世紀 銅鎏金勝樂金剛像

This masterfully cast sculpture portrays twelve-armed Chakrasamvara and his consort
Vajravarahi in ecstatic embrace, a complex meditational image that only the best artists
could deliver. Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi’s coupled pose (yab-yum) expresses
one of the most important transcendental ideals in Buddhist art – the supreme bliss of
enlightenment attained through the perfect union of Wisdom (Vajravarahi) and Compassion
(Chakrasamvara).

Chakrasamvara crosses the vajra and ghanta in his primary hands, producing vajrahumkara
mudra. The attributes in his other hands are creatively modeled, including an axe with
curved shaft, Brahma’s head with twisted locks, and the curved knife, detailed with a
chased rim. Almost tucked out of view, his upper thighs are clad in intricate textiles. All
jewelry elements – his crown, arm bands and bracelets – are confidently chased and
embellished with inset turquoise.

The artist spared no effort in his depiction of Vajravarahi as well. She wears the
panchamudra, or ‘five ornaments’, worn by females of the highest yoga tantra. Appearing
above garlands of skulls and severed heads, her meticulously executed apron with
interlaced floral medallions and ghanta is mesmerizing.

The sculpture is executed in one of the refined styles developed by master artists of Tibet’s
renaissance in the 15th century. The sculpture’s jewelry, crowns, and facial types compares
favorably to a competing style newly identified as the atelier of Sonam Gyaltsen, active in
Shigaste in the second quarter of the 15th century. (See, for example, the Sonam Gyaltsen
Avalokiteshvara and Mahachakravajrapani sold at Bonhams, New York, 19 March 2018, lots
3033 & 3034.) The present sculpture’s apron, long beaded festoons with circular pendants,
crown type, broad faces, and knitted brows are closely related to two 15th-century Chinese
silk images of Chakrasamvara in the Potala Palace (HAR 101608) and the Hung Collection
(HAR 90916).

Provenance
Christie’s, London, 6 May 1975, lot 50
Phillip Goldman Collection, 1975-2002
Sotheby’s, New York, 21 March 2002, lot 161
Private Wisconsin Collection

146 | BONHAMS