Collection Particulère Fran?aise

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RARE FIGURE DE VAJRAPANI EN ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE DORé NéPAL, LICCHAVI (CA 400-879) OU DéBUT DE LA PéRIODE TRANSITION (CA 880-1200), IX^E-X^E SIèCLE

尼泊爾 離車毗 或 過渡時期初期 九至十世紀 鎏金銅金剛手菩薩立像

A RARE GILT-COPPER FIGURE OF VAJRAPANI, NEPAL, LICCHAVI (CA 400-879) OR EARLY TRANSITIONAL PERIOD (CA 880-1200), 9TH-10TH CENTURY

se tenant debout, subtilement déhanchée vers la gauche, la main droite devant la poitrine et la gauche près de la cuisse tenant un vajra, vêtu d'un fin dhoti et d'une belle parure de bijoux, le haut du corps découvert, la tête couronnée d'une tiare ouvragée à trois fleurons devant un haut chignon élaboré, le visage en méditation, socle en bois

27,6 cm, 10? in.

27.6 公分， 10?英寸

The bodhisattva stands in graceful counterpoise (tribhanga) with right leg bent slightly at the knee and a gentle sway of the left hip. The elegant stance is a hallmark of Nepalese sculpture from the Kathmandu Valley during the Licchavi and Transitional periods, in a style derived ultimately from classical Indian Gupta (4th-6th c) and early Pala period (8th-12th c) works such as a ca. seventh or eighth century eastern Indian stele of a standing Vajrapani in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, see Rob Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion, London, 1999, p. 36, pl. 15. Vajrapani is considered to be a protector of the Buddha and has appeared in Buddhist sculpture since the Kushan empire (2nd-4th c).

This rare and early Nepalese statue of Vajrapani is cast in unalloyed copper according to ancient Newar foundry traditions, and retains traces of the original fire gilding: remains of polychrome on the surface suggests that the statue has been in Tibet where the ritual application of paint is common.

Vajrapani’s right hand is raised in the gesture of reassurance (abhaya mudra), with the eponymous vajra sceptre held in the lowered left hand: cf. a Nepalese standing Vajrapani dated seventh to ninth century, see Han Yong, compiler, Gems of Beijing Cultural Relics Series: Buddhist Statues I, Beijing, 2001, p. 94, pl. 52.

The iconography of the two statues is identical and the style similar, with only minor differences in detail such as the earring type: the Beijing Vajrapani wears a matching pair of lotus-form earrings while the present example has a similar lotus-form earring at the right ear and a large hoop suspended from the left. This asymmetric earring style, possibly based on contemporary royal fashion, is a common feature of early Nepalese and Indian sculpture: cf. similar earrings on a ninth or tenth century Nepalese gilt copper standing Indra in the Qing Palace, see The Palace Museum, Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism Collected in the Qing Palace, Beijing, 1992, p. 83, pl. 55, and the early Pala period stele of Vajrapani in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Linrothe, op. cit: cf. also the style of wrapped metal arm bands on the Pala stele and the Nepalese gilt copper Vajrapani in Beijing. The pronounced webbing between fingers and thumb, seen particularly on the raised right hand of the Vajrapani, is one of the signs (lakshana) of an enlightened being and is prominently depicted in early Indian and Nepalese sculpture: the webbing becomes less conspicuous in later works.

The open-pronged style of the vajra in the left hand is typical of early Nepalese interpretations of the ritual implement: cf. the vajra in the hands of both the Vajrapani and the Indra in the Beijing collections mentioned above. A halo of flames encircles the heads of the two Beijing statues but is broken and missing from the present example, where a ridge across the back of the shoulders indicates the break: the sash at the lower right leg is damaged and truncated, possibly a result of the same accident.