A FINE SILVER-INLAID BRONZE FIGURE OF RATNASAMBHAVA

WESTERN TIBET, 15TH CENTURY

Details

A FINE SILVER-INLAID BRONZE FIGURE OF RATNASAMBHAVA
WESTERN TIBET, 15TH CENTURY
Seated in vajrasana on a pedestal, with his right hand lowered in varadamudra and the left resting on his lap, wearing dhoti, bejewelled, his face displaying a serene expression with silver-inlaid downcast eyes, urna, smiling lips, elongated earlobes with ear ornaments, his blue-coloured hair combed in a chignon and secured with a tiara decorated with a pair of floating ribbons, sealed
12 5/8 in. (32 cm.) high

Provenance

Acquired circa 1975.

Brought to you by

Alexandra Cruden

acruden@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2566

Lot Essay

Ratnasambhava is one of the five cosmic Buddhas who are considered to be spiritual emanations of the Adi-Buddha. Each of them was given certain virtues by the primordial Buddha. The third, Ratnasambhava, is the Buddha of the Precious Birth and is able to turn avarice into the wisdom of equality. His right hand is granting wishes. He presides over the South; his element is earth, his sense is smell and his colour is yellow. It seems that he was the least popular of the group of five cosmic Buddhas as statues of him are rare. For another example see M.R. Rhie and R.A.F. Thurman, Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, New York, 1991, pl. 143.

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