Page 68 - Bonhams NYC Indian and Himalayan Art March 2019

869
A SILVERED COPPER ALLOY STUPA
SRI LANKA, DIVIDED KINGDOMS PERIOD, 13TH-15TH CENTURY
13 1/2 in. (34.2 cm) high

$40,000 - 60,000
斯里蘭卡 十三至十五世紀 銅鎏銀佛塔

Derived from ancient Indic burial mounds erected for important leaders, stupas (‘dagaba’
in Sri Lanka) are centers for Buddhist worship and pilgrimage, often housing, or having
housed, physical relics of the Buddha. Bronze models of stupas are also objects of worship,
with grander examples, such as the present work, often housing relics of important
members of a community, whose consecrated remains continue to bless the environment
around it. The four modeled leaves draped across this model’s dome, from the corners of
the square pavilion above, reinforcing the cosmological symbolism of the stupa’s sacred
contents emanating throughout the cardinal directions. Likely to have previously contained
the relics of an important monk or nun, the present lot is a rare silver-plated bronze stupa
from Sri Lanka’s Divided Kingdoms Period (13th-16th centuries).

Like many bronze Sri Lankan stupas, the present example is cast in two parts, secured
together by a hinge and lock mechanism at the base of dome. Representing the mundane
world, the stepped circular pedestal is cast with a thinner, more economical metal than the
heavy silver-plated dome representing the sky, and the tall spire representing the heavens.
Decoration on a Sri Lankan bronze stupa is usually sparse, if present at all. The relative
abundance of flower and leaf patterns appearing on this stupa therefore ranks it among the
more ornate of examples.

This stupa’s bell-shaped dome is typical of the Divided Kingdoms Period, with proportions
similar to the central, 40ft high stupa of Vijayantha Prasada, erected at Gadaladeniya
Vihara, an important temple complex in Kandy, in the mid-14th century. A closely related gilt
stupa attributed to the Divided Kingdoms Period, also constructed in separate parts, with
comparable dome and pendant leaves, is on display in the National Museum of Colombo.

Similarly shaped monumental stupas produced in emerging Thai kingdoms provide
another source for dating this rare stupa between the 13th and 15th centuries. See, for
instance, Wat Umong of Lan Na (1297), Wat Sa Si of Sukhothai (late 14th-century), and Wat
Maheyong of Ayutthaya (1438). Although the Divided Kingdoms Period was marred by three
hundred years of political instability, it was also an era of significant religious and cultural
exchange with new Thai kingdoms, whose statecraft, art, and architecture Sinhalese
Buddhism played a decisive role in. Bearing this in mind, the present bronze stupa is not
only an important artifact in Sri Lankan history, but also for the history of Buddhist art and
architecture of Southeast Asia.

Published
Janet Baker et al., Sacred Word and Image: Five World Religions, Phoenix, 2012, pp.12-3,
figs.1a-b.

Exhibited
Sacred Word and Image: Five World Religions, Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona, 4 January-25
March 2012.

Provenance
Private Collection, US, by 1957
Thence by descent

66 | BONHAMS