佛像鉴定鉴赏收藏

尺寸：高31.8cm
年代：14世纪
质地：错银错红铜
风格：西藏
来源：拍卖会
成交：752,500港元(2020.12)
参阅：香港邦瀚斯
鉴赏：
A SILVER AND COPPER INLAID COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF BUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI
TIBET, 13TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.16879
31.8 cm (12 1/2 in.) high
西藏 十三世紀 錯銀錯紅銅釋迦牟尼銅像

This early Tibetan bronze depicts Shakyamuni Buddha in peaceful serenity at the moment of achieving enlightenment. Of superior quality, its elegant fingertips are inlaid with copper—in addition to the more customary applications within the lips and robe hems—and the Buddha has an exceptionally handsome face.

The bronze survives with a lustrous patina from a formative period in Tibetan art when artists drew on existing Indian styles to produce bronzes for growing Tibetan monasteries. This period, between the 11th and 13th centuries, is known as the Second Transmission of Buddhism to Tibet. Generations of Tibetans gathered Indian devotional texts, paintings, and sculpture, seeking a “purer” form of Buddhism from the religion's geographical origin. Having many features that are faithful to the original, and some deviations, this sculpture is an excellent example of the Pala style of Northeastern India as it was adapted in Tibet.

Aspects of the Pala style exhibited by the bronze include the broad lotus petals around the base, the light, form-fitting robe, and the spiky, “snailshell” curls throughout the hair, which are particularly evocative of bronzes from Nalanda Monastery (cf. Ray, Eastern Indian Bronzes, Bombay, 1986, no.91a). The figure's attenuated waist is normally considered a Tibetan deviation from the Pala style, but it also happens to be a stylistic feature of Nalanda bronzes, though Nalanda bronzes proceed early Tibetan bronzes by several centuries. A good example of a Pala bronze that was brought to Tibet and forms a stylistic basis for the present lot is a small 12th-century Buddha in the Red Palace, Lhasa, which has an Indian inscription (von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Vol.I, Hong Kong, 2001, p.264, no.84A). However, when comparing its lotus petals, while the general, broad shape is similar, the particular rendering of plump, almost heart-shaped petals emanating symmetrically from the center in the present example is best considered an idiom of this new Tibetan style than a simple reproduction of a Pala model.

Sometimes a small hem is shown draped over the Buddha's left shoulder, forming another commonly cited feature that connects Pala and early Tibetan sculpture. But, it is not always present in either, as exhibited by the present bronze and a group of early Tibetan bronze Tathagathas from Nyethang Monastery (von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Vol.II, Hong Kong, 2001, pp.1162-5, nos.308A-E & 309A-C). A particularly good point of comparison for the present bronze is in the Jokhang, Lhasa (ibid., p.1173, no.313C). It is of a similar scale and does not portray the hem over the left shoulder either. Moreover, it has a comparable base distinguished by two beaded rims appearing above the lotus petals. Another smaller example also with these features is published in von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p.187, no.37D.

Provenance
Ex-Private French Collection