Footnotes

錯銀錯紅銅波通喀岡帕確吉僧格銅像
西藏 十五/十六世紀

Tibetan inscription
བོད་ཡུལ་མུན་སལ་དབོན་སྐྱིར་སྒང་པ་ལ་ན་མོ།།

Transliteration
[1] bod yul mun [g]sal dbon sky[e]r sgang pa la na mo | |

Translation
Homage to the one who dispels the darkness in the land of Tibet Bön[tön] Kyergangpa.

Himalayan Art Resources item no.16854
BDRC Resource ID P1783

Bonton Kyergangpa Chokyi Sengge (1154-1217) was an early master of the Shangpa Kagyu tradition, a secret lineage of the Kagyu school of Vajrayana Buddhism which originated in the Shang Valley of West Tibet. A great master and erudite scholar, who devoted his life to meditation, Kyergangpa spent many years in solitary retreat. He is most famous for having propagated the "Secret Accomplishment Hayagriva" practice, which is thought to have been transmitted to him by Padmasambhava, whose Pure Realm Kyergangpa transcended in his dreams.

This finely cast bronze affords Kyergangpa a nuanced, urbane expression. His chest is bare, he wears a yoga band slung around his right shoulder, and he holds a mala in his right hand—all features that emphasize his exemplary meditative practice. A meditation cloak is draped over Kyergangpa's silhouette, hanging across his back in tight vertical folds stemming from a foliated collar. The lotus base is tall with long, lozenge-shaped petals doubled between two finally beaded rims, a style prominent in the Tsang region of South-Central Tibet in the 15th and 16th centuries (compare HAR 11039, 13206. 13361 & 57378). The bronze is almost certainly from the same lineage set as the portrait of Namkha Gyeltsen also in this sale.

Provenance
Lempertz, Koln, 10 June 2008, lot 339