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Lot Essay
The masterful artisans who crafted this large and sensitively-modeled sculpture made careful choices to convey the power, majesty and serenity of this majestic bodhisattva. The raised chin, poised fingers, and gently-lifted chest create a sense of movement in this strong figure. The surface of his sensitively modeled body is richly adorned with armbands, necklaces, and belts, all inlaid with turquoise and the hems of the rich textiles that cover his legs are delicately incised with ornate lotus scroll. While the proportions of the bodhisattva’s body are otherworldly, his soft hands and feet give him a lifelike impression. The lost-wax process employed to create this sculpture ensures that this important commission is entirely unique, and the intact consecration base at the underside of the figure means that the sutras and other relics contemporary to its manufacture still remain preserved.
The present work has several trademark characteristics that suggest it was created in South Central Tibet in the fifteenth century, likely in the first half of the century. The facial features, bodily proportions, crown type, and jewelry and textile decoration can all be stylistically related to the Belri (Nepalese) style painting tradition that flourished in Tibet, such as those within the Gyantse Kumbum murals in southwest of Lhasa near Shigatse painted prior to 1442. Compare the present work, for instance, with an image of Avalokiteshvara painted on the walls of Temple 3W, and illustrated by Fr. Ricca and E. Lo Bue in The Great Stupa of Gyantse: A Complete Pantheon of the Fifteenth Century, London, 1993, color pl. 16; the painted image of Avalokiteshvara, like the present work, is depicted with sinuously curved brows centered by a rectangular urna, long angular nose, and bow-shaped mouth. In both the present work and the Gyantse Avalokiteshvara, the head is supported by a wide neck with prominent creases, and bedecked with a tight-fitting necklace with several pendants as well as a lower hanging chain with fewer adornments. The hems of the robes in the Gyantse Avalokiteshvara are painted with rich foliate scroll like that on the hems of the present Maitreya. The distinct crown type in the paintings of Gyantse Kumbum is also mirrored in the image of Maitreya, although the addition of a Garuda at the base of the central petal likely indicates the influence of Nepalese sculpture, in which that feature is more commonly found. Wood and papier-mâché sculptures within Gyantse, such as a figure of a bodhisattva illustrated on Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 42759, are remarkably similar to the present image of Maitreya. Compare, also, with a painting of Maitreya from a private collection, illustrated by P. Pal in Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, Chicago, 2003, p. 232, cat. no. 152, dated to circa 1425, which shares many of the aforementioned stylistic characteristics of the Gyantse mural and the present sculpture.
Similarly, the work shares many stylistic details with the atelier of the artisan, Sonam Gyaltsen, who worked in the Shigatse area circa 1430. The identity of Sonam Gyaltsen was only revealed to modern scholars after the 2018 deciphering by Jeff Watt of an inscription on a gilt-bronze image of an eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara, illustrated by U. von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1983, p. 453, fig. 124D. Several distinct stylistic traits found in the present sculpture have since been affiliated with characteristics found in a large body of works attributed to the style of the Sonam Gyaltsen atelier, including examples in museums, private collections, and works offered for sale at auction. These distinguishable features include the richest gilding atop a pinkish copper alloy, heavy inlaid-turquoise ornamentation, carefully and softly sculptured lotus petals, and lifelike physical features. Some works from this ever-expanding milieu appear clearly to be by the hand of the master, while others are clearly derivative, yet nearly as exquisite. Though there are notable differences between the present sculpture and the Avalokiteshvara attributed by inscription to the hand of Sonam Gyaltsen, many elements of his style are apparent here.
The incising along the lower rim of the lotus base is rendered as a continuous band of lotus scroll emerging from a sash-tied vase at the front center of the rim, a symbol of abundance and fecundity. The hems of the robes, languidly falling from the shins onto the top of the base, are incised with a ‘rice-grain’ pattern as well as a lotus scroll similar to that found on the rim of the base. The scroll in both places is characterized by semi-individualized blossoms represented from various angles, joined by large circular loops of stem. Such dense lotus scrollwork is derived from Nepalese art, and can be found in contemporary Nepalese and Tibetan Buddhist paintings filling the spaces between the various figures (see, for example, a rare Central Tibetan Lamdre lineage painting of two Sakya masters from the first half of the fifteenth century sold at Christie’s New York, 22 September 2021, lot 409, where similar foliate scroll fills nearly every ‘blank’ space in the composition). Nepalese depictions of foliate scroll were also adopted by Chinese artisans of the Yuan and early Ming dynasties, after the Nepalese master artisan Anige was appointed head of the imperial workshops in 1273. Compare, for example, the incised lotus scroll of the present work with that on a gilt-lacquered wooden manuscript cover dated by inscription to circa 1410 in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. no. 2015.500.1.52a, b), illustrated by J. Watt and D. Leidy in Defining Yongle: Imperial Art in Early Fifteenth-Century China, New York, 2005, p. 56, pl. 22. See, also, a rare red lacquered traveling box from the early fifteenth century, also in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. no. 1999.61), illustrated in ibid., p. 37, pl. 7. Both the manuscript cover and the traveling box depict lotuses joined by looping, semi-circular stems emerging from sash-draped vases; coincidentally, both the box and the manuscript covers and others like it were likely produced as gifts to Tibetan dignitaries. The lotus imagery on the present work, therefore, could have been influenced by contemporary Nepalese artists who worked extensively in the area, or from Nepalese-inspired Chinese decorative arts gifted to Tibetan monasteries.
This impressive sculpture has remained within an esteemed private collection in Switzerland for the past thirty-five years.
The present work has several trademark characteristics that suggest it was created in South Central Tibet in the fifteenth century, likely in the first half of the century. The facial features, bodily proportions, crown type, and jewelry and textile decoration can all be stylistically related to the Belri (Nepalese) style painting tradition that flourished in Tibet, such as those within the Gyantse Kumbum murals in southwest of Lhasa near Shigatse painted prior to 1442. Compare the present work, for instance, with an image of Avalokiteshvara painted on the walls of Temple 3W, and illustrated by Fr. Ricca and E. Lo Bue in The Great Stupa of Gyantse: A Complete Pantheon of the Fifteenth Century, London, 1993, color pl. 16; the painted image of Avalokiteshvara, like the present work, is depicted with sinuously curved brows centered by a rectangular urna, long angular nose, and bow-shaped mouth. In both the present work and the Gyantse Avalokiteshvara, the head is supported by a wide neck with prominent creases, and bedecked with a tight-fitting necklace with several pendants as well as a lower hanging chain with fewer adornments. The hems of the robes in the Gyantse Avalokiteshvara are painted with rich foliate scroll like that on the hems of the present Maitreya. The distinct crown type in the paintings of Gyantse Kumbum is also mirrored in the image of Maitreya, although the addition of a Garuda at the base of the central petal likely indicates the influence of Nepalese sculpture, in which that feature is more commonly found. Wood and papier-mâché sculptures within Gyantse, such as a figure of a bodhisattva illustrated on Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 42759, are remarkably similar to the present image of Maitreya. Compare, also, with a painting of Maitreya from a private collection, illustrated by P. Pal in Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, Chicago, 2003, p. 232, cat. no. 152, dated to circa 1425, which shares many of the aforementioned stylistic characteristics of the Gyantse mural and the present sculpture.
Similarly, the work shares many stylistic details with the atelier of the artisan, Sonam Gyaltsen, who worked in the Shigatse area circa 1430. The identity of Sonam Gyaltsen was only revealed to modern scholars after the 2018 deciphering by Jeff Watt of an inscription on a gilt-bronze image of an eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara, illustrated by U. von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1983, p. 453, fig. 124D. Several distinct stylistic traits found in the present sculpture have since been affiliated with characteristics found in a large body of works attributed to the style of the Sonam Gyaltsen atelier, including examples in museums, private collections, and works offered for sale at auction. These distinguishable features include the richest gilding atop a pinkish copper alloy, heavy inlaid-turquoise ornamentation, carefully and softly sculptured lotus petals, and lifelike physical features. Some works from this ever-expanding milieu appear clearly to be by the hand of the master, while others are clearly derivative, yet nearly as exquisite. Though there are notable differences between the present sculpture and the Avalokiteshvara attributed by inscription to the hand of Sonam Gyaltsen, many elements of his style are apparent here.
The incising along the lower rim of the lotus base is rendered as a continuous band of lotus scroll emerging from a sash-tied vase at the front center of the rim, a symbol of abundance and fecundity. The hems of the robes, languidly falling from the shins onto the top of the base, are incised with a ‘rice-grain’ pattern as well as a lotus scroll similar to that found on the rim of the base. The scroll in both places is characterized by semi-individualized blossoms represented from various angles, joined by large circular loops of stem. Such dense lotus scrollwork is derived from Nepalese art, and can be found in contemporary Nepalese and Tibetan Buddhist paintings filling the spaces between the various figures (see, for example, a rare Central Tibetan Lamdre lineage painting of two Sakya masters from the first half of the fifteenth century sold at Christie’s New York, 22 September 2021, lot 409, where similar foliate scroll fills nearly every ‘blank’ space in the composition). Nepalese depictions of foliate scroll were also adopted by Chinese artisans of the Yuan and early Ming dynasties, after the Nepalese master artisan Anige was appointed head of the imperial workshops in 1273. Compare, for example, the incised lotus scroll of the present work with that on a gilt-lacquered wooden manuscript cover dated by inscription to circa 1410 in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. no. 2015.500.1.52a, b), illustrated by J. Watt and D. Leidy in Defining Yongle: Imperial Art in Early Fifteenth-Century China, New York, 2005, p. 56, pl. 22. See, also, a rare red lacquered traveling box from the early fifteenth century, also in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. no. 1999.61), illustrated in ibid., p. 37, pl. 7. Both the manuscript cover and the traveling box depict lotuses joined by looping, semi-circular stems emerging from sash-draped vases; coincidentally, both the box and the manuscript covers and others like it were likely produced as gifts to Tibetan dignitaries. The lotus imagery on the present work, therefore, could have been influenced by contemporary Nepalese artists who worked extensively in the area, or from Nepalese-inspired Chinese decorative arts gifted to Tibetan monasteries.
This impressive sculpture has remained within an esteemed private collection in Switzerland for the past thirty-five years.