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A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF MAHACHAKRA VAJRAPANI CENTRAL TIBET, 15TH CENTURY
作品估价：USD 500,000 - 700,000
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图录号：
308
拍品名称：
A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF MAHACHAKRA VAJRAPANI CENTRAL TIBET, 15TH CENTURY
拍品描述：
CENTRAL TIBET, 15TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 85067
15 1/4 in. (37.6 cm) high
銅鎏金大輪金剛手像
藏中 十五世紀
Published
Marylin M. Rhie & Robert A.F. Thurman, Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, New York, 1996, p. 191, no. 56.
Robert E. Fisher, Art of Tibet, 1997, no. 35.
Pratapaditya Pal, Art of the Himalayas: Treasures of the Himalayas, Chicago, 2003, p. 126, no. 67.
Art of the Himalayas: Treasures from Nepal and Tibet,
Newark Museum, New Jersey, 5 January – 1 March 1992;
Portland Art Museum, Oregon, 29 March – 24 May 1992;
Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona, 21 June – 16 August 1992;
The Helen Clay Frick Foundation, Pittsburgh, 13 September – 8 November 1992;
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 28 February – 25 April, 1993;
Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, 22 May – 31 July 1993;
Tampa Museum of Art, Florida, 5 September – 31 October 1993;
National Gallery of Victoria, Sydney, February – April 1994;
Melbourne Museum, Melbourne, 1994;
Australian Museum, Sydney, April – June 1994;
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, July – September 1994;
Musée Cernuschi, Paris, February – May 1996.
Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet,
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, April 17 – August 18, 1991;
IBM Gallery of Science and Art, New York City, 15 October – 28 December, 1991;
Royal Academy of Arts, London, 18 September – 13 December, 1992.
The Zimmerman Family Collection, since mid-1960s
The wrathful form of the bodhisattva Vajrapani stands in union with his consort, Mamaki, on an oblong lotus base, their feet trampling the Hindu gods Indra and Brahma. Her body presses against his, forming a single, indivisible entity, her arms woven into the space between his shoulders and three-faced head. They balance in an extended lunge, thigh to thigh as she wraps her left leg around his waist. Her pleated skirt sways, but their feet are grounded. He is ornamented with coiling snakes as earrings, armbands, bracelets, and anklets. Two snakes intertwine in a crossed corset around his torso, one slides around his waist, and another is fastened around his hair. Another serpent writhes from the grip of his teeth. His epithet 'Great Wheel Holder of the Thunderbolt' is indicated by his back raised arm which holds the girdle of a pointed vajra. His form exhibits a syncretic style characterized by Indic iconography, Yuan dynasty connections, and Nepalese artistic traditions.
Although a rare subject, this ferocious, multi-limbed, and eroticized snake-bearing form of Vajrapani occurs with predominance during the 15th century, primarily in Central Tibet. Wrathful deities and their consorts became central to the secret, multi-layered, and mystic practices of tantric Buddhism during this period. As the largest gilt sculptural examples of this deity, this Mahachakra Vajrapani commands great reverence amidst an increasingly depicted class of wrathful tantric deities.
Mahachakra Vajrapani appears predominantly in this iconographic format—three-faces, six-arms, and holding a consort—during the 15th century. Among the gilt-sculpture and painted examples of the period, most appear to emerge from Shigatse in Tibet. A contemporaneous wall painting from the top floor of the Gyantse Kumbum shows a ferocious Mahachakra Vajrapani wearing a five-lobed crown and posturing with his six hands positioned in mudras identical to those in this sculpture. He too clasps a snake in his fangs, crushing the tail beneath his feet (HAR 42944). Two Mahachakra Vajrapani paintings which include Sakya lineage masters illustrate similar iconography (HAR 21949 and 58322), as do two gilt-sculptures (Bonhams, Paris, 12 June 2023, lot 25 and Christie's, Paris, 16 December 2022, lot 173). Each wears ornamental coiling snakes, symbolizing Mahachakra Vajrapani's role as subduer of Nagas. His placement alongside other fierce meditational deities on the top floor of Gyantse Kumbum recognizes him among the highest class of tantric beings. Here, that position is reinforced by the scale of this commission.
The origins of these wrathful Esoteric Buddhist deities date to the late 6th century in India. Earlier examples of wrathful deities are depicted as subsidiary figures, in forms derivative from the non-Buddhist, pre-Vedic nature spirits called yakshas. Growing out of Mahayana practices, they were worshipped in a subordinate role, alongside a bodhisattva, to remove worldly adversities. A plump, round-faced yaksha appears as an attendant to the bodhisattva Vajrapani on a 7th/8th century sculpture from Nalanda (Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion, London, 1999, p. 36, fig. 15). This subsidiary position developed though into independent entities replete with their own particular iconographic characteristics in eastern India around the 8th century. A 10th century depiction of Vajrapani-Trailokyavijaya, also from Nalanda, depicts a wrathful figure with features comparable to this sculpture, with his lunging stance, four faces, eight arms, raised vajra, and trampling two Hindu gods beneath his feet (ibid, p. 197, fig. 160).
The development of this class of Esoteric Buddhist deities in the culminating phase of Indian Buddhism in the late 11th/12th century, profoundly influenced their immigration into Tibet. As the wrathful deity's centrality matures, he is often accompanied in a locked sexual embrace by a female consort (called yab-yum, or "father-mother," in Tibetan), emphasizing a core yogic approach to supreme realization through sexual symbolism. The principle of union as a method of merging polarity — wisdom (female) and compassion (male) — was a tenet adopted from India into Tibet, which established a firmament of Esoteric Buddhist practice in the remote regions of the Himalayas during the Second Dissemination of Buddhism (late 10th-12th century). Beginning only in the 14th century, though, does Tibetan art demonstrate an expanding corpus of wrathful imagery shown in sexual union, emphasizing its increasing importance in tantric Buddhist practice. In addition to its scale, Mahachakra Vajrapani's sexual, wrathful, and destructive power are given exalted status with his flame-colored hair and third eye painted between two bulging pupils. He stares at a face mirroring his own intensity with his furrowed brow meeting an open-mouthed consort who entwines her body against his. Their implements of vajra, kapala, hooked knife (kartrika), and snake articulate a couple who wield great transformative power, even over the gods whom they trample.
While eastern Indian art may have established the iconographic inspiration for such potent images, the traditions between Nepal and China increasingly influenced the physiognomy, ornamentation, and decorative pattern in Tibetan art. In part, the 14th century set in motion a synthesis of styles in Tibet through innovations made at the Yuan court under the direction of the Nepalese artist Aniko (1244-1306). The close political ties between China and Tibet during the Yuan dynasty affected an influence of Chinese tastes, but so did a longstanding legacy in Tibet of employing craftsmen from the Kathmandu Valley for ever-expanding monastic complexes.
This Mahachakra Vajrapani bears the legacy of both these traditions. His towering orange hair correlates to an earlier 13th century Nepalese painting tradition in Tibet where a Mahakala wears similarly stylized curled-tipped tufts of hair. (Kossak & Singer, Sacred Visions, 1998, p. 146, no. 38). The lozenge-shaped armbands and bracelets of the consort, rippling sash over Vajrapani's shoulders, and styling of both crowns reference Nepalese traditions, indicated on a 14th century standing Maitreya (Bonhams, New York, 20 March 2018, lot 3205). The absence of inlaid gemstone jewelry reflects Yongle-period sculptural conventions as does the contouring of the garments which flow in pleats along the consort's waist and legs. The incised hem of her skirt draws inspiration from Chinese silk designs, which were exchanged as political gifts, particularly in Shigatse where Chinese court patrons supported regional building projects.
Despite the historical influences from India, Nepal, and China, this sculpture remains distinctly Tibetan in style and subject, marked by regional inventiveness. The mouth of the tiger's skin engulfing Mahachakra's leg is a witty detail discussed by David Weldon in reference to a wrathful figure of Bhurkumkuta (Bonhams, 19 March 2019, lot 947), and which he states is also present on murals at Gyantse (Weldon and Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, London, 1999, pp. 116, pl. 25). Contextually, the deity of large-scaled of the subduer of serpents, with its wrathful intensity and erotic energy, has a formidable presence. It holds the centrality of the transformative tantric Buddhist experience — for he is capable of terrifying both mundane and spiritual obstacles as a vehicle for achieving liberation.
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 85067
15 1/4 in. (37.6 cm) high
銅鎏金大輪金剛手像
藏中 十五世紀
Published
Marylin M. Rhie & Robert A.F. Thurman, Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, New York, 1996, p. 191, no. 56.
Robert E. Fisher, Art of Tibet, 1997, no. 35.
Pratapaditya Pal, Art of the Himalayas: Treasures of the Himalayas, Chicago, 2003, p. 126, no. 67.
Art of the Himalayas: Treasures from Nepal and Tibet,
Newark Museum, New Jersey, 5 January – 1 March 1992;
Portland Art Museum, Oregon, 29 March – 24 May 1992;
Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona, 21 June – 16 August 1992;
The Helen Clay Frick Foundation, Pittsburgh, 13 September – 8 November 1992;
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 28 February – 25 April, 1993;
Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, 22 May – 31 July 1993;
Tampa Museum of Art, Florida, 5 September – 31 October 1993;
National Gallery of Victoria, Sydney, February – April 1994;
Melbourne Museum, Melbourne, 1994;
Australian Museum, Sydney, April – June 1994;
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, July – September 1994;
Musée Cernuschi, Paris, February – May 1996.
Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet,
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, April 17 – August 18, 1991;
IBM Gallery of Science and Art, New York City, 15 October – 28 December, 1991;
Royal Academy of Arts, London, 18 September – 13 December, 1992.
The Zimmerman Family Collection, since mid-1960s
The wrathful form of the bodhisattva Vajrapani stands in union with his consort, Mamaki, on an oblong lotus base, their feet trampling the Hindu gods Indra and Brahma. Her body presses against his, forming a single, indivisible entity, her arms woven into the space between his shoulders and three-faced head. They balance in an extended lunge, thigh to thigh as she wraps her left leg around his waist. Her pleated skirt sways, but their feet are grounded. He is ornamented with coiling snakes as earrings, armbands, bracelets, and anklets. Two snakes intertwine in a crossed corset around his torso, one slides around his waist, and another is fastened around his hair. Another serpent writhes from the grip of his teeth. His epithet 'Great Wheel Holder of the Thunderbolt' is indicated by his back raised arm which holds the girdle of a pointed vajra. His form exhibits a syncretic style characterized by Indic iconography, Yuan dynasty connections, and Nepalese artistic traditions.
Although a rare subject, this ferocious, multi-limbed, and eroticized snake-bearing form of Vajrapani occurs with predominance during the 15th century, primarily in Central Tibet. Wrathful deities and their consorts became central to the secret, multi-layered, and mystic practices of tantric Buddhism during this period. As the largest gilt sculptural examples of this deity, this Mahachakra Vajrapani commands great reverence amidst an increasingly depicted class of wrathful tantric deities.
Mahachakra Vajrapani appears predominantly in this iconographic format—three-faces, six-arms, and holding a consort—during the 15th century. Among the gilt-sculpture and painted examples of the period, most appear to emerge from Shigatse in Tibet. A contemporaneous wall painting from the top floor of the Gyantse Kumbum shows a ferocious Mahachakra Vajrapani wearing a five-lobed crown and posturing with his six hands positioned in mudras identical to those in this sculpture. He too clasps a snake in his fangs, crushing the tail beneath his feet (HAR 42944). Two Mahachakra Vajrapani paintings which include Sakya lineage masters illustrate similar iconography (HAR 21949 and 58322), as do two gilt-sculptures (Bonhams, Paris, 12 June 2023, lot 25 and Christie's, Paris, 16 December 2022, lot 173). Each wears ornamental coiling snakes, symbolizing Mahachakra Vajrapani's role as subduer of Nagas. His placement alongside other fierce meditational deities on the top floor of Gyantse Kumbum recognizes him among the highest class of tantric beings. Here, that position is reinforced by the scale of this commission.
The origins of these wrathful Esoteric Buddhist deities date to the late 6th century in India. Earlier examples of wrathful deities are depicted as subsidiary figures, in forms derivative from the non-Buddhist, pre-Vedic nature spirits called yakshas. Growing out of Mahayana practices, they were worshipped in a subordinate role, alongside a bodhisattva, to remove worldly adversities. A plump, round-faced yaksha appears as an attendant to the bodhisattva Vajrapani on a 7th/8th century sculpture from Nalanda (Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion, London, 1999, p. 36, fig. 15). This subsidiary position developed though into independent entities replete with their own particular iconographic characteristics in eastern India around the 8th century. A 10th century depiction of Vajrapani-Trailokyavijaya, also from Nalanda, depicts a wrathful figure with features comparable to this sculpture, with his lunging stance, four faces, eight arms, raised vajra, and trampling two Hindu gods beneath his feet (ibid, p. 197, fig. 160).
The development of this class of Esoteric Buddhist deities in the culminating phase of Indian Buddhism in the late 11th/12th century, profoundly influenced their immigration into Tibet. As the wrathful deity's centrality matures, he is often accompanied in a locked sexual embrace by a female consort (called yab-yum, or "father-mother," in Tibetan), emphasizing a core yogic approach to supreme realization through sexual symbolism. The principle of union as a method of merging polarity — wisdom (female) and compassion (male) — was a tenet adopted from India into Tibet, which established a firmament of Esoteric Buddhist practice in the remote regions of the Himalayas during the Second Dissemination of Buddhism (late 10th-12th century). Beginning only in the 14th century, though, does Tibetan art demonstrate an expanding corpus of wrathful imagery shown in sexual union, emphasizing its increasing importance in tantric Buddhist practice. In addition to its scale, Mahachakra Vajrapani's sexual, wrathful, and destructive power are given exalted status with his flame-colored hair and third eye painted between two bulging pupils. He stares at a face mirroring his own intensity with his furrowed brow meeting an open-mouthed consort who entwines her body against his. Their implements of vajra, kapala, hooked knife (kartrika), and snake articulate a couple who wield great transformative power, even over the gods whom they trample.
While eastern Indian art may have established the iconographic inspiration for such potent images, the traditions between Nepal and China increasingly influenced the physiognomy, ornamentation, and decorative pattern in Tibetan art. In part, the 14th century set in motion a synthesis of styles in Tibet through innovations made at the Yuan court under the direction of the Nepalese artist Aniko (1244-1306). The close political ties between China and Tibet during the Yuan dynasty affected an influence of Chinese tastes, but so did a longstanding legacy in Tibet of employing craftsmen from the Kathmandu Valley for ever-expanding monastic complexes.
This Mahachakra Vajrapani bears the legacy of both these traditions. His towering orange hair correlates to an earlier 13th century Nepalese painting tradition in Tibet where a Mahakala wears similarly stylized curled-tipped tufts of hair. (Kossak & Singer, Sacred Visions, 1998, p. 146, no. 38). The lozenge-shaped armbands and bracelets of the consort, rippling sash over Vajrapani's shoulders, and styling of both crowns reference Nepalese traditions, indicated on a 14th century standing Maitreya (Bonhams, New York, 20 March 2018, lot 3205). The absence of inlaid gemstone jewelry reflects Yongle-period sculptural conventions as does the contouring of the garments which flow in pleats along the consort's waist and legs. The incised hem of her skirt draws inspiration from Chinese silk designs, which were exchanged as political gifts, particularly in Shigatse where Chinese court patrons supported regional building projects.
Despite the historical influences from India, Nepal, and China, this sculpture remains distinctly Tibetan in style and subject, marked by regional inventiveness. The mouth of the tiger's skin engulfing Mahachakra's leg is a witty detail discussed by David Weldon in reference to a wrathful figure of Bhurkumkuta (Bonhams, 19 March 2019, lot 947), and which he states is also present on murals at Gyantse (Weldon and Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, London, 1999, pp. 116, pl. 25). Contextually, the deity of large-scaled of the subduer of serpents, with its wrathful intensity and erotic energy, has a formidable presence. It holds the centrality of the transformative tantric Buddhist experience — for he is capable of terrifying both mundane and spiritual obstacles as a vehicle for achieving liberation.