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TIBET, 15TH-16TH CENTURY 15 ? in. (39.4 cm.) high
Sotheby's New York, 24 September 1997, lot 97.
The present figure represents Buddha Shakyamuni seated in dhyanasana on a double lotus base. His hands are held in bhumisparshamudra, representing the moment Shakyamuni achieved enlightenment as he touched the earth with one finger. The snug sanghati draped over the figure’s left shoulder is finely finished with a beaded and foliate incised hem. Buddha’s face carries a deep, contemplative expression, with a delicately arched brow, downcast eyes, an unobtrusive urna, and a small bow-shaped mouth. His elongated earlobes recall his previous life as a prince, when he would wear heavy, jeweled earrings. His sparsely pigmented blue hair is arranged into spiraled curls and gathered into a tall, domed ushnisha capped with a bud-shaped cintamani.
The fifteenth century witnessed the foundation of a number of great monasteries and is widely considered the pinnacle of Tibetan bronze images. The sculptural mastery is owed, in part, to the Nepalese sculptural style, which permeated through Tibet in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Newari bronze casters, virtuosos of both Buddhist and Hindu sculpture, were widely patronized throughout the Himalayan region and as far as the imperial Yuan dynasty workshops in Beijing. By the fifteenth century, Tibetan ateliers commonly incorporated Nepalese stylistic traits, such as the pinched waist, muscular upper body, and serene facial expression seen in the present example. Distinctly Tibetan features of the figure include the application of blue pigments in Shakyamuni’s hair, the patterning of his sanghati, and the tone of the bronze itself. Overall, the figure’s balanced proportions, refined casting, and enviable size make this bronze an outstanding example of the master craftsmanship of the Tibetan renaissance.
Compare the present lot to a contemporaneous, gilt-bronze figure of Buddha Shakyamuni of similar size sold at Christie’s New York, 12 September 2018, lot 358; both works share the similar muscular proportions, close-fitting sanghati with folds falling from the left elbow, and serence facial expression.