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Lot Essay
This large and powerfully-cast figure of the primordial buddha, Vajradhara, with its silver and copper-inlaid eyes, ornate, incised decoration, lustrous patina, and lengthy dedicatory inscription, is a paragon of Himalayan metal-casting, made at a time when the production of Buddhist art was perhaps at its zenith in Tibet.
The work is stylistically related to a larger corpus of bronzes identified as coming from a ‘Tsang atelier,’ a workshop in the Tsang province of South-Central Tibet that produced a number of related bronzes and favored incising and inlaying of precious metals over the use of gilding and stone-embellishing. The stylistic characteristics include the square-shaped face and upright posture, with an almost tubular torso emerging from the cinched dhoti at the waist. An ornate foliate scroll pattern is incised on the sash draped over the shoulders and on the voluminous folds of the dhoti, and is interspersed with a tight stippling; such decorative elements are typical for Tsang sculptures. The tight bunching of lotus petals on the base is also consistent with other ‘Tsang atelier’ works and follows closely the Chinese gilt-bronze Buddhist images that were produced in the imperial workshops of the Yongle emperor and sent in large numbers to the monasteries of Tibet in the early fifteenth century.
Images of Vajradhara appear to have been a popular commission in Tsang in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and important examples reside in the collection of the Rubin Museum of Art (acc. no. C2005.37.1) and formerly in the collection of Claude de Marteau, sold at Bonhams Paris, 14 June 2022, lot 38, as well as in monastic collections in Tibet such as the Jokhang, illustrated by U. von Schroeder in Buddhist Sculpture in Tibet, vol. II, 2001, p. 1193, fig. 323B. What differentiates the present image from the other known examples is the large size, which at 52 cm. high, is more than twice as large as the Rubin, de Marteau and Jokhang images, and the dedicatory inscription, which is not typically found on Vajradhara images from the ‘Tsang atelier.’
The dedicatory inscription is composed of two lines, the longer of which runs along the front of the base above the lotus petals and gives the name of the teacher in who’s honor the figure was commissioned, and the shorter of the two is at the front of the base below the lotus petals and gives the name of the artist, who might possibly also be the donor and student. The first line indicates that the present image of Vajradhara was made in the memory of the recently deceased lama, Gönpo Tsenchen, or possibly just Gönpo (in this case, Tsenchen is both an epithet as well as a proper Tibetan surname, thus making the identification unclear), commissioned by his student in fulfilment of his memory. The second line is translated as “Handcrafted by Lhadong Pön Chögé,” and possibly indicates that the work was cast by the master-artisan Chögé of Lhadong (in this case, Pön might be an abbreviation of Pönmoché, meaning master-artisan, and Lhadong may be a locality in the kingdom of Gungthang in South-Central Tibet near the Nepalese border).
Tsang was primarily controlled by the Sakyas, who practiced the Lamdre system of meditation that stressed the importance of lineage and transmission between master and student. The dedicatory inscription on the present bronze highlighting the teachings of the master, Gönpo, would indicate a possible association from Lamdre teachings. Vajradhara is typically considered the primary source, or in other words, the first figure, in Lamdre lineages, and it’s possible images of Vajradhara were commissioned alongside other lama figures as part of a lineage set. It is not surprising, in that context, that the image of Vajradhara would have the dedicatory inscription.
Translation of Inscription:
Namo guru!
As for this [statue], which is alike the voice of Vajradhara,
It is the inner receptacle of pagö Gönpo Tsenchen.
The artisan of the sampravartana dharma of the end of time,
In order to fulfil my perfect teacher’s intentions,
Having incited the faithful to virtue, realized [this image].
May we quickly attain the all-knowing and complete buddhahood!
Handcrafted by Lhadong Pön Chögé”
The work is stylistically related to a larger corpus of bronzes identified as coming from a ‘Tsang atelier,’ a workshop in the Tsang province of South-Central Tibet that produced a number of related bronzes and favored incising and inlaying of precious metals over the use of gilding and stone-embellishing. The stylistic characteristics include the square-shaped face and upright posture, with an almost tubular torso emerging from the cinched dhoti at the waist. An ornate foliate scroll pattern is incised on the sash draped over the shoulders and on the voluminous folds of the dhoti, and is interspersed with a tight stippling; such decorative elements are typical for Tsang sculptures. The tight bunching of lotus petals on the base is also consistent with other ‘Tsang atelier’ works and follows closely the Chinese gilt-bronze Buddhist images that were produced in the imperial workshops of the Yongle emperor and sent in large numbers to the monasteries of Tibet in the early fifteenth century.
Images of Vajradhara appear to have been a popular commission in Tsang in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and important examples reside in the collection of the Rubin Museum of Art (acc. no. C2005.37.1) and formerly in the collection of Claude de Marteau, sold at Bonhams Paris, 14 June 2022, lot 38, as well as in monastic collections in Tibet such as the Jokhang, illustrated by U. von Schroeder in Buddhist Sculpture in Tibet, vol. II, 2001, p. 1193, fig. 323B. What differentiates the present image from the other known examples is the large size, which at 52 cm. high, is more than twice as large as the Rubin, de Marteau and Jokhang images, and the dedicatory inscription, which is not typically found on Vajradhara images from the ‘Tsang atelier.’
The dedicatory inscription is composed of two lines, the longer of which runs along the front of the base above the lotus petals and gives the name of the teacher in who’s honor the figure was commissioned, and the shorter of the two is at the front of the base below the lotus petals and gives the name of the artist, who might possibly also be the donor and student. The first line indicates that the present image of Vajradhara was made in the memory of the recently deceased lama, Gönpo Tsenchen, or possibly just Gönpo (in this case, Tsenchen is both an epithet as well as a proper Tibetan surname, thus making the identification unclear), commissioned by his student in fulfilment of his memory. The second line is translated as “Handcrafted by Lhadong Pön Chögé,” and possibly indicates that the work was cast by the master-artisan Chögé of Lhadong (in this case, Pön might be an abbreviation of Pönmoché, meaning master-artisan, and Lhadong may be a locality in the kingdom of Gungthang in South-Central Tibet near the Nepalese border).
Tsang was primarily controlled by the Sakyas, who practiced the Lamdre system of meditation that stressed the importance of lineage and transmission between master and student. The dedicatory inscription on the present bronze highlighting the teachings of the master, Gönpo, would indicate a possible association from Lamdre teachings. Vajradhara is typically considered the primary source, or in other words, the first figure, in Lamdre lineages, and it’s possible images of Vajradhara were commissioned alongside other lama figures as part of a lineage set. It is not surprising, in that context, that the image of Vajradhara would have the dedicatory inscription.
Translation of Inscription:
Namo guru!
As for this [statue], which is alike the voice of Vajradhara,
It is the inner receptacle of pagö Gönpo Tsenchen.
The artisan of the sampravartana dharma of the end of time,
In order to fulfil my perfect teacher’s intentions,
Having incited the faithful to virtue, realized [this image].
May we quickly attain the all-knowing and complete buddhahood!
Handcrafted by Lhadong Pön Chögé”