LOT 11
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A RARE AND FINE SILVER-INLAID GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF NILAMBARA VAJRAPANI, 16TH-18TH CENTURY
作品估价：EUR 1,000
货币换算
成交状态：未知
买家佣金拍卖企业在落槌价的基础上收取买家佣金
28%
图录号：
11
拍品名称：
A RARE AND FINE SILVER-INLAID GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF NILAMBARA VAJRAPANI, 16TH-18TH CENTURY
拍品描述：
A RARE AND FINE SILVER-INLAID GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF NILAMBARA VAJRAPANI, 16TH-18TH CENTURY
Tibet or Nepal. Standing in pratyalidhasana on four intertwined snakes atop a double-lotus base, the raised right hand holding a vajra while the left clutches a noose. The wrathful deity wears a tiger-skin loincloth and is adorned with necklaces and snake ornamentation. The face with a fierce expression well detailed with three intensely staring silver-inlaid eyes, neatly incised furrowed brows and thick beard, the mouth agape with bared teeth, flanked by ears suspending coiled-snake earrings. The hair neatly fashioned into a high chignon enclosing a small image of Akshobya Buddha and backed by a trefoil tiara. The base sealed and incised with a double-vajra.
Provenance
: From a private collection in New Jersey, by repute acquired before 2001. Christie’s New York, 28 September 2023, lot 22 (attributed to Nepal), estimate USD 7,000 or approx.
EUR 7,000
(converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing).
Published:
Jeff Watt, Himalayan Art Resources, item number 25029 (attributed to Tibet).
Condition
: Good condition with expected wear and casting irregularities. Light nicks, few scratches, and minor dings. Rubbing and losses to gilt. Minuscule losses to the beaded edge.
Weight: 1,062.7 g
Dimensions: Height 15.5 cm
Vajrapani
, originally a peaceful bodhisattva in the Mahayana tradition, has a wrathful manifestation within the Tantric or Vajrayana Buddhist tradition. The present lot depicts Nilambara Vajrapani, or the Blue-Clad One. In this form Vajrapaṇi is dark blue, with one face, three eyes, and two hands. His clothing is blue and his thick matted hair streams upward. His body is adorned with eight serpents in various places, and in his right hand he brandishes a vajra. For the Tibetans, and no doubt for Indian tantric practitioners, this form of Vajrapaṇi was highly popular, to the extent that the Kangyur contains no less than seven tantras and two dharani texts centered on this awakened figure.
In this manifestation
, the wrathful Vajrapani displays his rightful indignation at hindrances that impede the practitioner on the path to enlightenment, directed toward the foolishness of someone who has encountered the Buddha’s teaching and who is, even so, too arrogant and prideful to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and the Sangha. For both protection and purification, a wrathful Vajrapani is invoked during the Krodhavesha ritual in the Kalachakra practice, in which the practitioner identifies with Vajrapani.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Galerie Zacke, 9 March 2023, lot 168
Price: EUR 23,400 or approx.
EUR 24,500
adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A large bronze figure of Nilambara Vajrapani, Tibet, Tsang Valley, 13
th
-14
th
century
Expert remark: Note the identical subject, the deity similarly adorned with serpents, as well as the larger size (25.2 cm) and earlier dating.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 15 September 2015, lot 26
Price: USD 137,000 or approx.
EUR 176,000
converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A rare parcel-gilt, silver-and-copper-inlaid figure of Mahakala Chaturbhuja, Tibet, 16
th
century
Expert remark: Compare the similar silver-inlaid eyes, coppery bronze, and size (16 cm).
Tibet or Nepal. Standing in pratyalidhasana on four intertwined snakes atop a double-lotus base, the raised right hand holding a vajra while the left clutches a noose. The wrathful deity wears a tiger-skin loincloth and is adorned with necklaces and snake ornamentation. The face with a fierce expression well detailed with three intensely staring silver-inlaid eyes, neatly incised furrowed brows and thick beard, the mouth agape with bared teeth, flanked by ears suspending coiled-snake earrings. The hair neatly fashioned into a high chignon enclosing a small image of Akshobya Buddha and backed by a trefoil tiara. The base sealed and incised with a double-vajra.
Provenance
: From a private collection in New Jersey, by repute acquired before 2001. Christie’s New York, 28 September 2023, lot 22 (attributed to Nepal), estimate USD 7,000 or approx.
EUR 7,000
(converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing).
Published:
Jeff Watt, Himalayan Art Resources, item number 25029 (attributed to Tibet).
Condition
: Good condition with expected wear and casting irregularities. Light nicks, few scratches, and minor dings. Rubbing and losses to gilt. Minuscule losses to the beaded edge.
Weight: 1,062.7 g
Dimensions: Height 15.5 cm
Vajrapani
, originally a peaceful bodhisattva in the Mahayana tradition, has a wrathful manifestation within the Tantric or Vajrayana Buddhist tradition. The present lot depicts Nilambara Vajrapani, or the Blue-Clad One. In this form Vajrapaṇi is dark blue, with one face, three eyes, and two hands. His clothing is blue and his thick matted hair streams upward. His body is adorned with eight serpents in various places, and in his right hand he brandishes a vajra. For the Tibetans, and no doubt for Indian tantric practitioners, this form of Vajrapaṇi was highly popular, to the extent that the Kangyur contains no less than seven tantras and two dharani texts centered on this awakened figure.
In this manifestation
, the wrathful Vajrapani displays his rightful indignation at hindrances that impede the practitioner on the path to enlightenment, directed toward the foolishness of someone who has encountered the Buddha’s teaching and who is, even so, too arrogant and prideful to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and the Sangha. For both protection and purification, a wrathful Vajrapani is invoked during the Krodhavesha ritual in the Kalachakra practice, in which the practitioner identifies with Vajrapani.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Galerie Zacke, 9 March 2023, lot 168
Price: EUR 23,400 or approx.
EUR 24,500
adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A large bronze figure of Nilambara Vajrapani, Tibet, Tsang Valley, 13
th
-14
th
century
Expert remark: Note the identical subject, the deity similarly adorned with serpents, as well as the larger size (25.2 cm) and earlier dating.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 15 September 2015, lot 26
Price: USD 137,000 or approx.
EUR 176,000
converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A rare parcel-gilt, silver-and-copper-inlaid figure of Mahakala Chaturbhuja, Tibet, 16
th
century
Expert remark: Compare the similar silver-inlaid eyes, coppery bronze, and size (16 cm).