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拍品專文
With its languid pose and benevolent expression, this small yet charming image of the bodhisattva Manjushri is a particularly fine example of mid-Malla period Nepalese metalworking. Identified by the miniature sword and book on the lotus blossoms at the shoulder, the overall depiction of this particular bodhisattva is unusual for the Nepalese context, and indeed in all Himalayan tantric Buddhist art. Manjushri sits with his legs loosely crossed and with his weight resting on his proper left hand, with his right holding a seed or wish-fulfilling gem in front of his chest. His broad face is centered with a small bow-shaped mouth, with heavy-lidded eyes below arched brows and an urna inlaid with turquoise. He wears a five-petaled Vajracharya crown, and is backed by a flaming nimbus. Depictions of Manjushri, particularly in Nepalese art, vary considerably, with many images showing the bodhisattva holding his iconic sword aloft behind his head; see, for example, a fourteenth-century gilt-copper figure of Manjushri sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 May 2019, lot 2708, in which he is depicted in this more common manner. Other images show Manjushri seated on a lotus base with his legs crossed in dhyanasana with the sword and book on lotus blossoms at the shoulder. Another group depict Manjushri standing with just the book at one shoulder.
The present depiction perhaps follows an early tradition, as demonstrated by a ninth-tenth century Nepalese figure of Manjushri in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, illustrated by D. Weldon in The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, London, 1999, pp. 88-89, pl. 11; the Nyingjei Lam image shows Manjushri in a relaxed posture, as in the present lot, holding the gem in his proper right hand, although the sword and book implements are not included. Later images more contemporaneous to the present lot include a fifteenth-century gilt-copper figure of Manjushri in the collection of the Rubin Museum of Art (Object no. C2003.33.2) and a gilt-copper repoussé figure of Manjushri in the Pritzker Collection, illustrated on Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 58340; both depict the bodhisattva in lalitasana, a slightly different but relaxed posture, but with the hands held in dharmachakramudra rather with the weight resting on the left hand. The present image evokes the typical Nepalese depiction of the Hindu god, Indra, who is shown in a relaxed posture with his weight resting on his hand; see, for example, a thirteenth-century gilt-copper figure of Indra in the collection of the Norton Simon Museum, illustrated by P. Pal in Asian Art at the Norton Simon Museum, Volume 2: Art from the Himalayas & China, New Haven, 2003, pp. 11, 18, 72, 74, 84-87, 91, 112, 114, 242, cat. no. 52.
The present depiction perhaps follows an early tradition, as demonstrated by a ninth-tenth century Nepalese figure of Manjushri in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, illustrated by D. Weldon in The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, London, 1999, pp. 88-89, pl. 11; the Nyingjei Lam image shows Manjushri in a relaxed posture, as in the present lot, holding the gem in his proper right hand, although the sword and book implements are not included. Later images more contemporaneous to the present lot include a fifteenth-century gilt-copper figure of Manjushri in the collection of the Rubin Museum of Art (Object no. C2003.33.2) and a gilt-copper repoussé figure of Manjushri in the Pritzker Collection, illustrated on Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 58340; both depict the bodhisattva in lalitasana, a slightly different but relaxed posture, but with the hands held in dharmachakramudra rather with the weight resting on the left hand. The present image evokes the typical Nepalese depiction of the Hindu god, Indra, who is shown in a relaxed posture with his weight resting on his hand; see, for example, a thirteenth-century gilt-copper figure of Indra in the collection of the Norton Simon Museum, illustrated by P. Pal in Asian Art at the Norton Simon Museum, Volume 2: Art from the Himalayas & China, New Haven, 2003, pp. 11, 18, 72, 74, 84-87, 91, 112, 114, 242, cat. no. 52.