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拍品專文
This sculpture depicts a three-dimensional mandala of Chakrasamvara within a blossoming lotus. Mandalas are the celestial abodes of tantric Buddhist deities and can be temporarily constructed in colored sand, painted in two-dimensions, and sculpted in palatial form. The material mandala provides the practitioner a visual aid on the spiritual journey to enlightenment.
In Buddhist art, the lotus is by far the most frequently represented of all the rich flora of the Indian sub-continent. The lotus rises from the muddied waters, spotless, into the realm of air and light. Sculptural mandalas resembling lotuses, such as this lot, are perhaps the most rare and interesting. Constructed with a hinge mechanism to open and close the lotus petals around the central deity, such bronze lotus mandalas date back to the Pala period in Northeastern India (from roughly the eighth through twelfth centuries), and its artistic form spread to Nepal, Tibet, and China.
At the center of this lotus mandala is a delicately-gilded image of twelve-armed Chakrasamvara embracing his consort Vajravarahi, signifying the union of wisdom and compassion. Beautifully inlaid with turquoise, the deity was originally encircled on its lotus platform by four goddesses of the Chakrasamvara Tantra: Lama, Dakini, Khandaroha, and Rupini, alternating with four jeweled vases (one of the jeweled vase and one of the goddesses are now missing). On the interior of the lotus petals are the eight goddesses, protectors of the Eight Great Cremation Grounds. The lotus rests on top of a short stem rising from a cymbal-shaped base.
The delicately cast Chakrasamvara embracing his consort reveals the extraordinary artisanship of the Early Malla period in the fifteenth century. Characterized by its sharp facial features and elegant ornaments and jewelry, the present Chakrasamvara figure can be compared with a similarly-cast bronze figure of Chakrasamvara from Nepal sold at Christie’s New York, 18 March 2014, lot 1005. The short lotus stem and the casting of the lotus petals can be compared with another Nepalese lotus mandala of Arapacana Manjushri in the collection of the Chazen Museum of Art (65.5.5). Further compare the iconographic details of the present work with a closely related lotus mandala of Chakrasamvara from Nepal illustrated in P. Pal’s Nepal: Where Gods are Young, New York, p.48, fig.30.
The style of the present lot derives many of its iconographies from Pala-period examples from Northeastern India, including a twelfth-century bronze figure of Chakrasamvara sold at Christie’s New York, 21 March 2011, lot 79. One notable Pala example is in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (acc. no.EAX285). Few examples of Nepalese bronze figural lotus mandalas remain; many of the surviving bronze lotus mandala examples date from the Chinese imperial workshops of the Ming and Qing dynasties. One of the finest examples of a Chinese-made figural lotus mandala is of the Seventeen-Deity Vajrabhairava dating from the reign of the Yongle emperor, now in the collection of the Tibet Museum, Lhasa, and illustrated in U. von Schroeder’s Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Hong Kong, p.1265, plate 350.
In Buddhist art, the lotus is by far the most frequently represented of all the rich flora of the Indian sub-continent. The lotus rises from the muddied waters, spotless, into the realm of air and light. Sculptural mandalas resembling lotuses, such as this lot, are perhaps the most rare and interesting. Constructed with a hinge mechanism to open and close the lotus petals around the central deity, such bronze lotus mandalas date back to the Pala period in Northeastern India (from roughly the eighth through twelfth centuries), and its artistic form spread to Nepal, Tibet, and China.
At the center of this lotus mandala is a delicately-gilded image of twelve-armed Chakrasamvara embracing his consort Vajravarahi, signifying the union of wisdom and compassion. Beautifully inlaid with turquoise, the deity was originally encircled on its lotus platform by four goddesses of the Chakrasamvara Tantra: Lama, Dakini, Khandaroha, and Rupini, alternating with four jeweled vases (one of the jeweled vase and one of the goddesses are now missing). On the interior of the lotus petals are the eight goddesses, protectors of the Eight Great Cremation Grounds. The lotus rests on top of a short stem rising from a cymbal-shaped base.
The delicately cast Chakrasamvara embracing his consort reveals the extraordinary artisanship of the Early Malla period in the fifteenth century. Characterized by its sharp facial features and elegant ornaments and jewelry, the present Chakrasamvara figure can be compared with a similarly-cast bronze figure of Chakrasamvara from Nepal sold at Christie’s New York, 18 March 2014, lot 1005. The short lotus stem and the casting of the lotus petals can be compared with another Nepalese lotus mandala of Arapacana Manjushri in the collection of the Chazen Museum of Art (65.5.5). Further compare the iconographic details of the present work with a closely related lotus mandala of Chakrasamvara from Nepal illustrated in P. Pal’s Nepal: Where Gods are Young, New York, p.48, fig.30.
The style of the present lot derives many of its iconographies from Pala-period examples from Northeastern India, including a twelfth-century bronze figure of Chakrasamvara sold at Christie’s New York, 21 March 2011, lot 79. One notable Pala example is in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (acc. no.EAX285). Few examples of Nepalese bronze figural lotus mandalas remain; many of the surviving bronze lotus mandala examples date from the Chinese imperial workshops of the Ming and Qing dynasties. One of the finest examples of a Chinese-made figural lotus mandala is of the Seventeen-Deity Vajrabhairava dating from the reign of the Yongle emperor, now in the collection of the Tibet Museum, Lhasa, and illustrated in U. von Schroeder’s Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Hong Kong, p.1265, plate 350.