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Lot Essay
The present sculpture from Western Tibet depicts the sambhogakaya form of Amitabha Buddha, seated in the meditation posture atop a double lotus pedestal. This princely form of Amitabha Buddha is adorned with elaborate jewelry and decorations, including a five-fold crown, a pair of circular earrings, and various necklaces and other beaded ornaments around his neck, arms, wrists, and ankles. The body of the Buddha is encircled by an animated ribbon-like scarf, framing the figure within a circular halo. The present sculpture belongs to a body of work from the western provinces of Tibet, derived from Pala and Kashmiri prototypes. Sometimes referred to as the ‘Monastic Period’ style, this style was especially popular in west and central Tibet around the 13th and 14th centuries.
Amitabha in the present form suggests that it was once part of a group of sculptures depicting the Five Dhyani Buddhas or Tathagatas, which also includes Akshobhya, Amoghasiddhi, Ratnasambhava, and Vairocana. Each Buddha is distinguished by an associated color, Buddha family, direction, hand gesture, attribute, animal mount, and insight. Amitabha, with his red hue, is the Buddha of Infinite Light who presides over the Lotus family of Buddhas in the western direction.
From the number of sculptures that have survived in the ‘Monastic Style’, it appears that devotion to the five Tathagatas was especially popular in Tibet around the 13th and 14th centuries. This sculpture captures the artist's reinterpretation of the Pala aesthetic as it was transmitted to Tibet after the close of the 12th century. This stylistic influence is reflected in the Buddha’s heavy eyelids, the tall chignon top-knot, and the regalia adorned with silver and turquoise inlays. This sculpture exhibits more refined artistry than most works in this style. For instance, the generally preserved casting struts of the crown have been removed, and there is careful incising work detailing the sashes that adorn the Buddha’s body. The casting struts connecting the scarf and crown to the figure's body remain. Compare the ornaments and crown design of the present work with two bronze figures of Ratnasambhava illustrated by U. von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan Bronzes , Hong Kong, p. 180, figs. 34A and 34B, along with a fourteenth-century sculpture of Ratnasambhava from the Fondation Alain Bordier (acc. no. ABS 032). Also compare the present sculpture with two images of Akshobhya, published by von Schroeder in Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet , Vol. II, 2001, pp. 1179 & 1181, nos. 316B-C & 317C. Furthermore, compare the overall style of inlay and ornamentation with a figure of a Buddha sold at Christie's New York on 15 March 2016, lot 69 for $341,000.
The back of the Buddha is inscribed with the syllables “om ah hung” and the mantra:ཨཱོཾ་ས་རྦེ་བྱི ད་སྭ་ཧཱ།
Om sa rba byid svaha (a variant spelling of the sanskrit mantra “ Om sarva vidya svaha” )
Amitabha in the present form suggests that it was once part of a group of sculptures depicting the Five Dhyani Buddhas or Tathagatas, which also includes Akshobhya, Amoghasiddhi, Ratnasambhava, and Vairocana. Each Buddha is distinguished by an associated color, Buddha family, direction, hand gesture, attribute, animal mount, and insight. Amitabha, with his red hue, is the Buddha of Infinite Light who presides over the Lotus family of Buddhas in the western direction.
From the number of sculptures that have survived in the ‘Monastic Style’, it appears that devotion to the five Tathagatas was especially popular in Tibet around the 13th and 14th centuries. This sculpture captures the artist's reinterpretation of the Pala aesthetic as it was transmitted to Tibet after the close of the 12th century. This stylistic influence is reflected in the Buddha’s heavy eyelids, the tall chignon top-knot, and the regalia adorned with silver and turquoise inlays. This sculpture exhibits more refined artistry than most works in this style. For instance, the generally preserved casting struts of the crown have been removed, and there is careful incising work detailing the sashes that adorn the Buddha’s body. The casting struts connecting the scarf and crown to the figure's body remain. Compare the ornaments and crown design of the present work with two bronze figures of Ratnasambhava illustrated by U. von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan Bronzes , Hong Kong, p. 180, figs. 34A and 34B, along with a fourteenth-century sculpture of Ratnasambhava from the Fondation Alain Bordier (acc. no. ABS 032). Also compare the present sculpture with two images of Akshobhya, published by von Schroeder in Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet , Vol. II, 2001, pp. 1179 & 1181, nos. 316B-C & 317C. Furthermore, compare the overall style of inlay and ornamentation with a figure of a Buddha sold at Christie's New York on 15 March 2016, lot 69 for $341,000.
The back of the Buddha is inscribed with the syllables “om ah hung” and the mantra:ཨཱོཾ་ས་རྦེ་བྱི ད་སྭ་ཧཱ།
Om sa rba byid svaha (a variant spelling of the sanskrit mantra “ Om sarva vidya svaha” )