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Lot Essay
This thickly cast and lavishly gilt image of the tathagata Ratnasambhava sits in dhyanasana with his left hand held above the lap and the right extended in abhayamudra. The fingernails, creases of the fingers, and chakras on the palms are all elegantly delineated through deft casting or elegant incising. The sanghati draped over the left shoulder both captures the weight of the cloth, with its thick folds pooling below the elbow and ankles, and reveals the form of the body beneath. The face is one of benevolent concentration, with downcast eyes centered by a spiral-form urna, while the hair is rendered in tight snailshell curls, now covered with the ubiquitous blue pigment. The double-lotus base is cleverly cast in two parts, with the join at the waist between the two bands of lotus petals; the Tibetan inscription running around the rim of the base is translated as: "Homage to the manifestation of [this] victorious, pure, blissfully-departed, perfect buddha's omniscient mind of the ocean of dharma."
Compare the physiognomy of the present figure, including the wide shoulders and pinched waist, as well as the treatment of the hands and drapery, with a gilt-bronze figure of Buddha Vajrasana dated to the fourteenth century in the collection of the Jokhang, illustrated by U. von Schroeder in Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, vol. II, Hong Kong, 2001, p. 1031, fig. 255E.
Ratnasambhava emerges from the five Buddha families, signifying the purification of pride. Thought to be residing in the south and gold in color, other depictions of Ratnasambhava show him holding a wish-fulfilling jewel in his left hand, symbolizing the enriching qualities of the Buddha’s doctrine. Ratnasambhava is a ubiquitously represented tathagata associated with the South. He is the father of the Jewel family of Vajrayana Buddhist deities, associated with the element of earth, and the enlightened activity of equanimity. He is often pictured with the other four tathagata buddhas—Akshobya of the East, Amitabha of the West, Amoghasiddhi of the North, and Vairochana of the Central direction. These primordial buddhas all bear an appearance like that of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni, unadorned, in the garb of an ordained monk.
Compare the physiognomy of the present figure, including the wide shoulders and pinched waist, as well as the treatment of the hands and drapery, with a gilt-bronze figure of Buddha Vajrasana dated to the fourteenth century in the collection of the Jokhang, illustrated by U. von Schroeder in Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, vol. II, Hong Kong, 2001, p. 1031, fig. 255E.
Ratnasambhava emerges from the five Buddha families, signifying the purification of pride. Thought to be residing in the south and gold in color, other depictions of Ratnasambhava show him holding a wish-fulfilling jewel in his left hand, symbolizing the enriching qualities of the Buddha’s doctrine. Ratnasambhava is a ubiquitously represented tathagata associated with the South. He is the father of the Jewel family of Vajrayana Buddhist deities, associated with the element of earth, and the enlightened activity of equanimity. He is often pictured with the other four tathagata buddhas—Akshobya of the East, Amitabha of the West, Amoghasiddhi of the North, and Vairochana of the Central direction. These primordial buddhas all bear an appearance like that of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni, unadorned, in the garb of an ordained monk.