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TIBET, 15TH CENTURY 18 1/8 in. (46 cm.) high
Private collection, Italy, acquired by the family of the present owner circa 1970; thence by descent.
The present seated figure of Shadakshari Lokeshvara exemplifies the melding of styles often found in Himalayan art. Certain stylistic qualities, such as the drapery and nearly-horizontal cinching of the dhoti at the pinched waist and the mantle-like shawl draped over the shoulders are very similar to those seen in fourteenth-century Buddhist bronzes from the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) in China. Compare, for example, with a bronze figure of Marichi illustrated by R. Bigler in Before Yongle: Chinese and Tibeto-Chinese Buddhist Sculpture of the 13th and 14th Centuries, Zurich, 2015, p. 34, fig.5. It is likely that the present Shadakshari Lokeshvara would have originally sat on a base similar to the cited example illustrated by Bigler.
In contrast, the face and jewelry of the present work are distinctly Tibetan in style. The facial features, which are square and linear, contrast with the plump rounded features of the Chinese sculptural style, in particular the Marichi illustrated by Bigler. The protruding arched eyebrows, elongated almond-shaped eyes and straight narrow nose are all hallmarks of Tibetan physiognomy, as is the rectangular third eye inlaid with a colored stone. The simple necklace with three jeweled drops, pointed arm bands and the foliate crown are found in bronzes from Central and Western Tibet. The presence of scriptural scrolls within the consecration chamber further places the figure within a Tibetan Buddhist context.
The present work can be compared to a bronze figure of Sarvavid Vairochana, corresponding to a fourteenth-fifteenth-century style, in the collection of Drigung Monastery in Lhasa, illustrated by U. von Schroeder in Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, vol. II, Hong Kong, 2001, p. 1205, no. 329B-C. Both works display similar blending of Yuan-period drapery and bodily proportions with Tibetan facial features and jewelry treatment, and illustrate the cross-cultural exchange of styles within Buddhist sculpture of this period. The fusion of such styles can create confusion about the dating of these works, but the fifteenth-century attribution of the present work has been confirmed by various scholars.
Himalayan Art Resource (himalayanart.org), item no. 24394