佛像鉴定鉴赏收藏

尺寸：高21cm
年代：明代
质地：铜鎏金
风格：永乐宫廷
来源：拍卖会
成交：3,850,000元(2006.11); 156,000美元(2005.09)
参阅：中国嘉德 纽约佳士得
鉴赏：
金刚手头戴花冠，顶盘横髻，宝缯于耳后翻卷成U字形。面庞方圆，额际高广，面相慈祥，表情含蓄，双目低垂，眉间饰以圆形白毫。高鼻小口，大耳垂肩，耳韨大而圆，制作精致。颈短粗，身姿挺拔，微向右倾。胸部宽厚。收腰，上身袒露，披挂繁复璎珞，下身穿长裙，双肩搭帔帛，衣纹流畅，手法写实。胸前的V型长珠链，与腰带和衣纹形成的波浪形衣褶相辉映，朴素中透出华丽。右手高举，执金刚杵，左手当胸结三宝印。双膝结跏坐于双层束腰莲花座上。莲座上下层各镶一圈连珠，束腰内收成锐角状，莲瓣挺拔秀长，主瓣间露出底层莲瓣一角，微微上翘。莲座正前方有“大明永乐年施”刻款。整躯比例匀称，造型完美，工艺精细，体现了明代永乐时期宫廷造像的典型风貌，是当时中央政府赐赠藏传佛教高僧的礼物，被学术界称为“永乐青铜塑像”。此尊与首都博物馆所藏一件同类佛像造型基本相同。

A GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF VAJRAPANI
Tibeto-Chinese, Yongle Mark and Period (1403-24)
Finely cast seated in dhyanasana on a double lotus base with beaded rims, his left hand in vitarka mudra and his right hand holding a vajra, wearing a flowing dhoti and scarf, beaded necklaces, and belts with pendent jewels and foliate disk-shaped earrings, his face in contemplative expression surmounted by an elaborate eight-leaf crown, his hair drawn into a high chignon topped with a lotus bud finial, incised with a six character-Yongle mark at the front of the base, the base sealed with incised visvavajra
8¼ in. (21 cm.) high

Lot Essay
Starting in the Yuan Dynasty, the authority of Mongol rulers had become closely associated with Tibetan Buddhist or Lamaist rituals, culminating in masterpieces of Tibeto-Chinese art created during the first half of the 15th Century. The Ming Emperor Yongle (1403-24), a devout Buddhist, commissioned gilt bronzes bearing his reign mark both for personal religious practices and as gifts for Tibetan emissaries. Created in the Imperial ateliers in Beijing, they are unsurpassed in technical mastery of casting, ornamental detailing, chasing, and gilding; for another closely related figure of Vajrapani in the Berti Aschmann Collection, see H. Uhlig, On the Path to Enlightenment, 1995, p. 107, cat. no. 59; and another in the Chang Foundation, Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, 1993, p. 144f, cat. no. 65.