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Lot Essay
This sweet-faced Buddha sits in serene equipoise, extending his hand in bhumisparsha-mudra, a gesture indicative of his enlightenment beneath the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, India. Having attained liberation from the cyclical existence of suffering, he sits possessed of supernatural powers (abhinna) expressed with his downward gaze of boundless compassion and penetrating insight. His realization is displayed through his idealized form including his perfect lotus posture, elongated earlobes, and raised cranial protuberance.
The image embodies the enduring traditions of Newar metalworkers who were employed throughout to Tibet to enhance decorative schema on Tibetan monasteries beginning in the thirteenth century. The famously documented Densatil monastery, captured in photos from the 1950s, illustrates the scope of these sculptural programs. Drigung monastery, located nearby would have been equally as embellished as Densatil, so too were other monasteries whose items are now dismantled from their original sculptural splendors (see D. Weldon, "Defining the Style of A Group of 13th Century Tibetan Gilt Copper Statues", in asianart.com, 13 September 2018).
Hallmarks of Newari sculptural aesthetics including the tall ushnisha, diaphanous robes, and softly modelled features are recorded on earlier Buddha prototypes (D. Weldon and J. C. Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, 1999, p. 71, fig. 42). Tibetan Buddhas of the period displaying comparable thick gilding and serene-faced countenances include two published on Himalayan Art Resources (1405 and 1807) and a Tara whose vishvavajra base plate correlates to the one sealed along the underside of this sculpture (ibid, 1999, p. 111, pl. 22).
The image embodies the enduring traditions of Newar metalworkers who were employed throughout to Tibet to enhance decorative schema on Tibetan monasteries beginning in the thirteenth century. The famously documented Densatil monastery, captured in photos from the 1950s, illustrates the scope of these sculptural programs. Drigung monastery, located nearby would have been equally as embellished as Densatil, so too were other monasteries whose items are now dismantled from their original sculptural splendors (see D. Weldon, "Defining the Style of A Group of 13th Century Tibetan Gilt Copper Statues", in asianart.com, 13 September 2018).
Hallmarks of Newari sculptural aesthetics including the tall ushnisha, diaphanous robes, and softly modelled features are recorded on earlier Buddha prototypes (D. Weldon and J. C. Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, 1999, p. 71, fig. 42). Tibetan Buddhas of the period displaying comparable thick gilding and serene-faced countenances include two published on Himalayan Art Resources (1405 and 1807) and a Tara whose vishvavajra base plate correlates to the one sealed along the underside of this sculpture (ibid, 1999, p. 111, pl. 22).