Page 200 - Bonhams NYC Indian and Himalayan Art March 2019

Bhurkumkuta’s fierce imagery serves to convey his assured capacity to eviscerate personal
afflictions. Standing firmly in a pratyalidha pose with hands aloft menacingly, his ferocity
is vividly captured with a roaring mouth, flamelike eyebrows, moustache and blazing red
hair. He holds a visvajra (a double thunderbolt scepter) and vajra, which is symbolic of the
immutable quality of the spiritual truth revealed by Shakyamuni. In his presence, there can
be no doubt of Bhurkumkuta’s capacity to eradicate sickness and disease.

Only two other bronze sculptures of Bhurkumkuta are broadly known: another 15th-century
example formerly in the Goldman Collection, (see von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes,
Hong Kong, 1981, p.441, no.118E) and a Qing period example in the Katimari Collection
(HAR 59542).

Discussing the present bronze’s quality and 15th-century dating, Weldon draws attention
to close stylistic parallels in painted murals of Gyantse Kumbum in Shigatse, Central
Tibet. With its initial structures completed in the first half of the 15th century, the Gyantse
Kumbum is one of the grandest monuments of Tibet. Its seventy-five chapels are filled
with painted depictions of wrathful deities pertaining to tantric practice. The treatment
of the present sculpture’s corpulent abdomen closely resembles that painted for one of
Gyantse Kumbum’s murals of Krodha Trailokyadharsana (Ricca & Lo Bue, The Great Stupa
of Gyantse, London, 1993, p.170, no.55). Similarly, the bronze’s looping scarves and
mesmerizing tiger skin lower garment match those in a mural of Vajrapani (ibid., p.153,
no.38).

Also, informing this masterpiece’s 15th-century attribution is its incorporation of key
elements of early Ming imperial style. The high technical mastery exhibited in bronzes of
the Yongle and Xuande imperial workshops are known to have been received with great
enthusiasm in Tibet (cf. Weldon, ‘The Perfect Image: The Speelman Collection of Yongle
and Xuande Buddhist Icons’, in Arts of Asia, May-June 1996, pp.64-73). The sculptor’s
choice of representing this Bhurkumkuta’s fine jewelry without inlaid semiprecious
stones follows a convention set by the Yongle imperial style. Additionally, the depiction of
Bhurkumkuta’s scarf swirling in small loops between his torso and arms perfectly balances
the sculptural composition, as with a Yongle Mahakala published in von Schroeder, Indo-
Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p.519, no.145E). Two 15th-century thangkas of
Raktayamari and Vajrasattva demonstrate other instances in which the convention of these
small loops set by Ming imperial workshops were adopted into fine Tibetan artworks of the
15th century (see Rhie & Thurman, Wisdom and Compassion, New York, 2000, pp.234 &
332, nos.77 & 132, respectively).

Published
David Weldon and Jane Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the
Nyingjei Lam Collection, London, 1999, pp.116, pl.25.
Franco Ricca, Arte Buddhista Tibetana: Dei e Demoni dell’ Himalaya, Palazzo Bricherasio,
Turin, 2004, fig.IV.55.

Exhibited
The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, Ashmolean
Museum, Oxford, 6 October - 30 December 1999.
Arte Buddhista Tibetana: Dei e Demoni dell’ Himalaya, Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin, June -
September 2004 .
Casting the Divine: Sculptures of the Nyingjei Lam Collection, Rubin Museum of Art, New
York, 2 March 2012 - 11 February 2013.

Provenance
The Nyingjei Lam Collection, Hong Kong
On loan to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1996–2005
On loan to the Rubin Museum of Art, New York 2005-2018

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