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Lot Essay
Gilles Béguin
Honorary General Curator
Former Director of Cernuschi Museum
The present sculpture and the following lot, both large and impressively cast, are some of the most important Tibetan sculptures ever sold by the esteemed dealer of Asian art, William H. Wolff, whose gallery was based in New York. One was first published in 1977 in the catalogue of the exhibition Dieux et Démons de l'Himalaya that i curated in the Grand palais which took place in 1977 (25 March-27 June).
Both figures were correctly attributed by Ulrich von Schroeder in his seminal 1981 tome, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes. One of the figures depicts the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, with his right hand shown in the gesture of charity, varadamudra. He is further identified by the antelope head that is draped over the proper left shoulder, in this case depicted in a somewhat stylized representation. The other figure depicts the bodhisattva, Vajrapani, who would have held a vajra, or thunderbolt, upright in the proper right hand in front of the chest (although the vajra is currently missing, the attachment prong at the center of the torso is still visible).
It is likely the present two bronzes were once part of a larger group depicting the Eight Great Bodhisattvas, a grouping that became popular with the rise of Mahayana Buddhism. In Tibetan monasteries, these figures would have typically been arranged along the side walls of the assembly room. See, for example, a grouping of the Eight Great Bodhisattvas at Sera Monastery, near Lhasa, illustrated by U. von Schroeder in Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, vol. II, Hong Kong, 2001, p. 948-949.
The current works display many features that are characteristic of the art of Western Tibet from eleventh to thirteenth centuries: the diadem composed of foliate finials emerging from semi-circular lotus motifs, and the squarish face with conjoined eyebrows and hooked nose. Also typical of this period is the triangular torso with geometrical musculature, with the navel marked by crossing folds. These characteristics can be traced to the influence of both the Kashmiri and Pala sculptural styles. Compare the present works with an example in the Pritzker Collection, illustrated by P. Pal in Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, Berkeley, 2003, p. 135, cat. no. 85. See, also, an example from the John D. Rockefeller III Collection at Asia Society New York, illustrated by P. Pal, ibid., p. 135, cat. no. 86. Finally, compare with an example at the Musée des Arts Asiatiques-Guimet in Paris, illustrated by G. Béguin in L'Inde et le monde indianisé au Musée national des Arts Asiatiques – Guimet, Paris, 1992, p. 132.
Honorary General Curator
Former Director of Cernuschi Museum
The present sculpture and the following lot, both large and impressively cast, are some of the most important Tibetan sculptures ever sold by the esteemed dealer of Asian art, William H. Wolff, whose gallery was based in New York. One was first published in 1977 in the catalogue of the exhibition Dieux et Démons de l'Himalaya that i curated in the Grand palais which took place in 1977 (25 March-27 June).
Both figures were correctly attributed by Ulrich von Schroeder in his seminal 1981 tome, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes. One of the figures depicts the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, with his right hand shown in the gesture of charity, varadamudra. He is further identified by the antelope head that is draped over the proper left shoulder, in this case depicted in a somewhat stylized representation. The other figure depicts the bodhisattva, Vajrapani, who would have held a vajra, or thunderbolt, upright in the proper right hand in front of the chest (although the vajra is currently missing, the attachment prong at the center of the torso is still visible).
It is likely the present two bronzes were once part of a larger group depicting the Eight Great Bodhisattvas, a grouping that became popular with the rise of Mahayana Buddhism. In Tibetan monasteries, these figures would have typically been arranged along the side walls of the assembly room. See, for example, a grouping of the Eight Great Bodhisattvas at Sera Monastery, near Lhasa, illustrated by U. von Schroeder in Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, vol. II, Hong Kong, 2001, p. 948-949.
The current works display many features that are characteristic of the art of Western Tibet from eleventh to thirteenth centuries: the diadem composed of foliate finials emerging from semi-circular lotus motifs, and the squarish face with conjoined eyebrows and hooked nose. Also typical of this period is the triangular torso with geometrical musculature, with the navel marked by crossing folds. These characteristics can be traced to the influence of both the Kashmiri and Pala sculptural styles. Compare the present works with an example in the Pritzker Collection, illustrated by P. Pal in Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, Berkeley, 2003, p. 135, cat. no. 85. See, also, an example from the John D. Rockefeller III Collection at Asia Society New York, illustrated by P. Pal, ibid., p. 135, cat. no. 86. Finally, compare with an example at the Musée des Arts Asiatiques-Guimet in Paris, illustrated by G. Béguin in L'Inde et le monde indianisé au Musée national des Arts Asiatiques – Guimet, Paris, 1992, p. 132.