TIBET, DENSATIL, CIRCA 1400

Densatil Monastery, situated southeast of Lhasa in central Tibet, was founded in 1179 by Pagmodrubpa Dorje Gyalpo, one of the three main disciples of Gampopa, the founder of the Pagdru Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism. Over the subsequent 160 years, the monastery constructed eight commemorative stupas, or chortens, each containing elaborately gilt-bronze monuments that enshrined the remains of abbots and noble lineage figures. The main stupa was an impressive three-story edifice, adorned with resplendent golden deities created by master Nepali artists, with the assistance of local artisans. Though tragically destroyed in the latter half of the twentieth century, a small number of fragments were preserved and are now housed in private collections and museums worldwide.
The present piece is an iconic frieze depicting musician goddesses, each heavily cast and richly gilded. Four goddesses stand in a row, bearing musical instruments and ritual objects, originally intended to embellish the base of a stupa at Densatil. These bases, adorned with such friezes, once contained eighteen large reliquaries with the remains of Phagmogrupa’s spiritual and political leaders. Examples of similar friezes can be found in museum collections, including the Musée Guimet and the Dallas Museum of Art. A frieze with four dancers from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. John I. Eastman was featured in the exhibition and catalogued by M. Rhie and R. Thurman in Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, New York, 2000, no. 240. Another example, from the Philip Goldman Collection in London, is illustrated in von Schroeder’s Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p. 430, pl. 113G. A related Densatil gilt-bronze figure of the forest goddess Paranashavari achieved $389,000 at Christie’s New York on 15 March 2016, lot 256, while a closely related frieze with offering goddesses sold at Christie’s New York on 13 September 2017, lot 626, for $396,500.