Footnotes

The sculpture is precise, elegant, and well proportioned, with a lotus base completed in the round and sealed with a gilded baseplate. Carefully incised floral sprays and empowering monograms cover almost every inch of the lama's robes, which drape across his limbs, conveying the weight and texture of the fabrics. Meanwhile, the sculptor accomplishes an idiosyncratic portrait emphasizing a strong chin and wrinkles below high cheekbones that convey a subject in his forties or fifties.

Identified by the inscription, Konchog Pel (1445-1514) had a precocious upbringing, first meeting the Ngor order's founder, Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo (1382-1456), at the age of seven. Later, he had the good fortune of being the disciple of one of the Sakya's most prolific lamdre scholars, the Fourth Abbot of Ngor, Kunga Wangchuk (1424-78). Konchog Pel is known for commissioning several important artistic projects, including a life-size gilded sculpture of his beloved teacher. Similarly, Pel was a significant teacher himself, training one of the most important Tibetan cultural figures at the threshold of the 16th century, Lowo Khenchen Sonam Lundrub (c.1456-1532).

Little information has been gathered thus far about Sanggye Lundrub, the patron of this bronze and student of Konchog Pel, but he is identified in an initial record on TBRC (#P4923, 15th/16th century). Another portrait of Konchog Pel from the same atelier, and one of Konchog Gyaltsen, are published in Rossi, Homage to the Holy, London, 2003, nos. 36 & 37.

Provenance
Plum Blossoms Gallery, Hong Kong
Private American Collection, acquired from the above, 25 October 1995


銅鎏金俄爾寺七世堪千昆秋貝爾像
西藏，十六世紀早期
頭髮處塗以黑色顏料；底座下緣藏文銘文譯為："頂禮尊貴的昆秋貝爾上師，祈請護佑，桑傑倫珠"。
喜馬拉雅藝術資源網2442號
高15.2釐米（6英吋）

450,000-650,000港元

此尊上師像精緻優雅，比例勻稱，圓形蓮座，封底鎏金，實為上等佳作。袈裟刻畫細緻逼真，材料之柔軟質地及重量感皆顯露無遺，無一處不刻有精美紋飾。與此同時，藝術家更將上師之面部特徵表現得唯妙唯肖，下顎突出，顴骨高聳，面部肌肉線條清晰，描繪出上師中年之風貌。

由銘文可斷定該上師之身份為昆秋貝爾（1445-1514年）。他七歲時便接觸到俄爾寺之創始人俄尔钦·贡噶桑波（1382-1456年）。其後亦有幸師從薩迦派道果法脈之大學者、俄爾寺四世主持貢噶旺秋（1424-78年）。昆秋貝爾曾供養數件重要藝術作品，其中包括一尊刻畫其恩師的真人尺寸鎏金造像。同時，昆秋貝爾自身也是備受景仰的老師，他的弟子中就包括十六世紀西藏重要的文化領袖羅俄堪千索南倫珠（約1456-1532年）。

此尊上師像的供養人桑傑倫珠為昆秋貝爾的弟子，對其歷史生平世人知之甚少，唯有藏傳佛教資源中心的簡單紀錄（#P4923，十五／十六世紀）。另有兩尊分別描繪的昆秋貝爾與昆秋嘉森的上師像與本拍品風格技法極其相似，可知三尊出自同一作坊，可參見Rossi，Homage to the Holy，倫敦，2003年，36與37號。

來源
萬玉堂畫廊，香港
美國私人珍藏，於1995年10月25日購自上述畫廊