Page 202 - Bonhams NYC Indian and Himalayan Art March 2019

948
A GILT AND POLYCHROMED COPPER REPOUSSÉ MANDALA Published
PANEL WITH INDRA AND KANHAPA Martin Brauen, Mandala: Sacred Circle in Tibetan Buddhism, New
NEPAL OR TIBET, CIRCA 14TH CENTURY York, 2009, fig.1.10.
Himalayan Art Resources item no.68444 Franco Ricca, Arte Buddhista Tibetana: Dei e Demoni dell’ Himalaya,
13 x 21 in. (33 x 53.4 cm) Turin, 2004, fig. IV.71.
David Weldon and Jane Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of
$30,000 - 50,000 Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, London, 1999, p.75,
fig.46.
尼泊爾或西藏 約十四世紀 彩繪銅鎏金錘揲因陀羅與噶那巴壇城飾板
Exhibited
Once a part of a glorious sculptural mandala, this fine Newari gilt The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam
and red painted repoussé panel depicts two scenes from its eastern Collection, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 6 October - 30 December
perimeter, divided by the mythical Great Tree, Shirisha. On the left, 1999.
Indra sits on his elephant, Airavata, being propitiated by a serpent king Arte Buddhista Tibetana: Dei e Demoni dell’ Himalaya, Palazzo
and queen. On the right, Mahasiddha Kanhapa rides a zombie in the Bricherasio, Turin, June –September 2004.
charnel grounds, assisted by broad-bellied Acala. The panel’s bands of Mandala: The Perfect Circle, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 14
finely articulated flames, vajras, and lotus petals correlate to protective August 2009 - 11 January 2010.
rings that commonly form part of a tantric Buddhist mandala. Mandala: Scared Circle in Tibetan Buddhism, Michael C. Carlos
Museum, Emory University, Atlanta, 21 January - 15 April 2012.
The panel’s fine repoussé and pigmented background indicate the
work of a Newari master craftsmen. So too, does its classic Newari Provenance
representation of Indra, with his lithe pose and broad diadem. The Nyingjei Lam Collection
However, the location and patron of this great mandala may have On loan to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1996–2005
been in Tibet. A closely related pair of Newari repoussé plaques from On loan to the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2005–2019
the same, 14th-century period were sold at Bonhams, New York, 14
March 2016, lot 13.

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