An Important Large Bronze Figure of Padmapani

WESTERN TIBET, LATE 11TH/EARLY 12TH CENTURY

Details

An Important Large Bronze Figure of Padmapani
Western Tibet, late 11th/early 12th Century
Standing with his legs slightly splayed on a shaped plinth, his right hand raised in abhaya mudra and his left lowered holding the stem of a lotus flower rising from the base to his left shoulder, wearing a short dhoti with folds undulating between his legs and finely incised with floral bands, an antelope skin strapped across his shoulder and knotted at his chest and a scarf extending down to his ankles, his face with a benign expression with large almond-shaped eyes inlaid in silver beneath incised arched brows and silver urna, the bow-shaped mouth inlaid in copper, with a trefoil crown centered by an image of Amitabha, in a rich deep brown patina
22 in. (56 cm.) high

Provenance

Pan-Asian Collection

Literature

M. Rhie and R. Thurman, Wisdom and Compassion, The Sacred Art of Tibet, 1996, cat. no. 28
P. Pal, The Sensuous Immortals, 1978, cat. no. 107.
R. Fisher, Art of Tibet, 1997, fig. 26, p. 44.

Exhibited

Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Sensuous Immortals, A Selection of Sculptures from the Pan-Asian Collection, 1978.
San Francisco, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Wisdom and Compassion, The Sacred Art of Tibet, 1991; New York, IBM Gallery of Science and Art, 1991; London, Royal Academy of Art, 1992; Bonn, Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, 1996; Barcelona, Fundacio 'la Caixa', 1997; Tokyo, Tobu Museum of Art, 1997; Yamaguchi City, The Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, 1997; Chiba City, Chiba City Museum of Art, 1997; Taipei, China Times Culture Center, 1998.

Lot Essay

Bronzes from the vital early years of the Second Transmission of Buddhism to Western Tibet in the late 10th and early 11th century under King Yeshe , the translator Rinchen Sangpo, and the Indian sage Atisha, are extremely rare. This example is remarkable for its presence and strength with strongly pronounced large silver eyes and copper lips, owing to Kashmiri influences. Compare another figure of similar style, but half the size, at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, published in U. von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, 1981, fig. 20G.

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