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Lot Essay
This rare and elegant image of Prajnaparamita, the goddess of transcendent wisdom and personification of the Prajnaparamita Sutra, is an exceptional example of 13th century Tibetan sculpture. Unusual for its scale and subject as no other examples of Prajnaparamita from this period is known.
The figure is cast in a brass alloy, which preserves the delicate modelling and subtle surface details and reveals the sculpture’s clear iconographic program that reflects both its Indian antecedents and the emerging confidence of a distinctly Tibetan artistic language.
Prajnaparamita, venerated as the “Mother of All Buddhas,” embodies the wisdom of emptiness (sunyata), the insight that all phenomena are devoid of inherent existence. She is a central figure in Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions and an especially potent symbol during the second diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet. Despite her importance in textual traditions and manuscript painting, sculptural representations of Prajnaparamita from this period are remarkably rare, particularly in bronze. This figure may represent one of the few large-scale, freestanding images of the goddess created during the 13th or 14th century.
The deity is depicted in her two-armed form, a visual formula rooted in Pala-period eastern Indian bronzes of the 10th and 11th centuries. An example of a White Prajnaparamita from the 9th century early Pala period in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, no. B62S32+ (Huntington and Bangdel, The Circle of Bliss, Los Angeles, 2002, p. 122, no. 21), fig. 1 shows the early example of the two-armed form although shown with a sutra on top of both flowers.
She sits in a meditative posture with her hands in dharmacakra mudra, the gesture of turning the Wheel of the Dharma. From the base, a lotus stem rises and splits into two vines: one curves gracefully around her left arm, looping along the forearm and reconnecting to the main stem before arching upward to support a manuscript above her left shoulder, an explicit symbol of the wisdom teachings she embodies. The right-hand stem, by contrast, rises independently behind the figure, a visual echo of early Indian bronze compositions. The subtle variation in stem handling and the unadorned elegance of the forms are rare survivals in the Tibetan sculptural canon.
The facial expression is serene and introspective, the features softly modelled, with an ovoid face, high forehead, prominent chin, and hooked nose, may suggest a degree of regional portraiture, possibly reflecting the appearance of a patron or local ruler who commissioned the image. Her tall ushnisha is framed by structured crown leaves, flanked by projecting ribbons and large rosettes over the ears. A diamond-shaped urna marks her forehead. She wears a necklace with an incised pendant in a cruciform leaf design, suspended from a flat band, along with stylised armbands and wrist bangles, motifs that also appear in works like the Ratnasambhava in the Tsuglang Temple, Lhasa (von Schroeder, The Jokhang Bronzes, in Jokhang – Tibet’s Most Sacred Buddhist Temple, edited by Gyurme Dorje, London, 2009; Part 4, Pl. 3E). fig. 2. The overall handling of the body, jewellery, and expansive lotus base with a bold beaded lower rim reveal the sculptor’s deep familiarity with the Pala idiom.
Yet this is not a mere replication of Indian models. The sculpture incorporates local innovations that mark it unmistakably as Tibetan. The bars linking the crown leaves are structurally functional but also stylistic markers frequently found in Tibetan bronzes of the 13th and 14th centuries. The lotus base, with its flat, wide petals and incised outlines, reflects the aesthetic preferences of Central Tibetan ateliers. The brassy alloy, the exaggerated height of the crown, and certain ornamental details point to Kashmiri influence, especially the sculptural tradition disseminated across Western and Central Tibet in the 10th–12th centuries. These elements are visible, for instance, in a Kashmir-style Prajnaparamita in the British Museum (1966,0616.2), showing the hybrid aesthetic Tibetan sculptors synthesised from multiple Himalayan sources.
The composition of this sculpture also reveals the artist’s sensitivity to visual rhythm and devotional function. The flowering vine stems that arc above the shoulders act not only as symbolic elements but also as a visual mandorla—encircling the deity with an aura of sacred presence. This motif, drawn directly from Pala prototypes, appears in several related bronzes from the region but rarely with such finesse.
Comparable examples of related stylistic features and compositions include a seated Buddha illustrated in von Schroeder’s Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Vol. II (2001, p. 1173, no. 313D); a Ratnasambhava in the Tibet Museum, Gruyères (ABS 032; HAR 200457); and the Prajnaparamita on a Pala bronze stupa in the Cleveland Museum of Art (1982.132). Additional references can be found in Buddha: 2000 Years of Buddhist Art by Grewenig & Rist (2016, pp. 408–9, no. 177), which presents related Central Tibetan bronzes informed by Indian and Kashmiri traditions.
This sculpture of Prajnaparamita is not only a masterwork of early Tibetan bronze casting but a rare and profound expression of the spiritual and artistic bridges between India and Tibet during the second diffusion of Buddhism. Its iconographic clarity, elegant restraint, and exceptional state of preservation distinguish it as one of the most important surviving representations of a female deity from the early period of Tibetan Buddhist art. In both its devotional significance and its sculptural quality, it stands among the finest known examples of its kind.
The figure is cast in a brass alloy, which preserves the delicate modelling and subtle surface details and reveals the sculpture’s clear iconographic program that reflects both its Indian antecedents and the emerging confidence of a distinctly Tibetan artistic language.
Prajnaparamita, venerated as the “Mother of All Buddhas,” embodies the wisdom of emptiness (sunyata), the insight that all phenomena are devoid of inherent existence. She is a central figure in Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions and an especially potent symbol during the second diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet. Despite her importance in textual traditions and manuscript painting, sculptural representations of Prajnaparamita from this period are remarkably rare, particularly in bronze. This figure may represent one of the few large-scale, freestanding images of the goddess created during the 13th or 14th century.
The deity is depicted in her two-armed form, a visual formula rooted in Pala-period eastern Indian bronzes of the 10th and 11th centuries. An example of a White Prajnaparamita from the 9th century early Pala period in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, no. B62S32+ (Huntington and Bangdel, The Circle of Bliss, Los Angeles, 2002, p. 122, no. 21), fig. 1 shows the early example of the two-armed form although shown with a sutra on top of both flowers.
She sits in a meditative posture with her hands in dharmacakra mudra, the gesture of turning the Wheel of the Dharma. From the base, a lotus stem rises and splits into two vines: one curves gracefully around her left arm, looping along the forearm and reconnecting to the main stem before arching upward to support a manuscript above her left shoulder, an explicit symbol of the wisdom teachings she embodies. The right-hand stem, by contrast, rises independently behind the figure, a visual echo of early Indian bronze compositions. The subtle variation in stem handling and the unadorned elegance of the forms are rare survivals in the Tibetan sculptural canon.
The facial expression is serene and introspective, the features softly modelled, with an ovoid face, high forehead, prominent chin, and hooked nose, may suggest a degree of regional portraiture, possibly reflecting the appearance of a patron or local ruler who commissioned the image. Her tall ushnisha is framed by structured crown leaves, flanked by projecting ribbons and large rosettes over the ears. A diamond-shaped urna marks her forehead. She wears a necklace with an incised pendant in a cruciform leaf design, suspended from a flat band, along with stylised armbands and wrist bangles, motifs that also appear in works like the Ratnasambhava in the Tsuglang Temple, Lhasa (von Schroeder, The Jokhang Bronzes, in Jokhang – Tibet’s Most Sacred Buddhist Temple, edited by Gyurme Dorje, London, 2009; Part 4, Pl. 3E). fig. 2. The overall handling of the body, jewellery, and expansive lotus base with a bold beaded lower rim reveal the sculptor’s deep familiarity with the Pala idiom.
Yet this is not a mere replication of Indian models. The sculpture incorporates local innovations that mark it unmistakably as Tibetan. The bars linking the crown leaves are structurally functional but also stylistic markers frequently found in Tibetan bronzes of the 13th and 14th centuries. The lotus base, with its flat, wide petals and incised outlines, reflects the aesthetic preferences of Central Tibetan ateliers. The brassy alloy, the exaggerated height of the crown, and certain ornamental details point to Kashmiri influence, especially the sculptural tradition disseminated across Western and Central Tibet in the 10th–12th centuries. These elements are visible, for instance, in a Kashmir-style Prajnaparamita in the British Museum (1966,0616.2), showing the hybrid aesthetic Tibetan sculptors synthesised from multiple Himalayan sources.
The composition of this sculpture also reveals the artist’s sensitivity to visual rhythm and devotional function. The flowering vine stems that arc above the shoulders act not only as symbolic elements but also as a visual mandorla—encircling the deity with an aura of sacred presence. This motif, drawn directly from Pala prototypes, appears in several related bronzes from the region but rarely with such finesse.
Comparable examples of related stylistic features and compositions include a seated Buddha illustrated in von Schroeder’s Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Vol. II (2001, p. 1173, no. 313D); a Ratnasambhava in the Tibet Museum, Gruyères (ABS 032; HAR 200457); and the Prajnaparamita on a Pala bronze stupa in the Cleveland Museum of Art (1982.132). Additional references can be found in Buddha: 2000 Years of Buddhist Art by Grewenig & Rist (2016, pp. 408–9, no. 177), which presents related Central Tibetan bronzes informed by Indian and Kashmiri traditions.
This sculpture of Prajnaparamita is not only a masterwork of early Tibetan bronze casting but a rare and profound expression of the spiritual and artistic bridges between India and Tibet during the second diffusion of Buddhism. Its iconographic clarity, elegant restraint, and exceptional state of preservation distinguish it as one of the most important surviving representations of a female deity from the early period of Tibetan Buddhist art. In both its devotional significance and its sculptural quality, it stands among the finest known examples of its kind.