Footnotes

丹薩替 藏中 十四/十五世紀 那伽銅像

The Kagyu monastic complex in Densatil, southeast of Lhasa, was founded in 1108, after the spiritual teacher Pagmodrupa Dorje Gyalpo travelled to the area near the Northern banks of the Tsangpo river. Pupils gathered at his side to form a simple monastery originally of grass huts, but after his death in 1170 the monastic complex was enlarged and a temple built.

From the mid-14th century, Densatil was ruled by the Phagmogrupa family, one of the most powerful ruling families of the time in Tibet. The family sought to extend its influence with a series of high-level gift exchanges with the Chinese emperors, and eventually they came to rule almost all of Tibet. Their wealth and influence is demonstrated by the astonishingly high quality of art produced under their patronage. The Densatil monastery became one of the richest in Tibet, and was renowned in particular for its metalwork and paintings by Newar artists from Nepal. Traces of the lavish jewels seen here, and almost all other Densatil style sculptures, are tributes of the traditions of Newari trademark styles.

The iconic image of the serpent king, or nagaraja, the mythological water guardian, is depicted in the distinctive kneeling posture of supplication. As one who inhabits the watery world below, the lifted arms and tilted head along with the contorted posture with the back leg bearing weight on the knee and foot turned skyward, is the protector of all the earth's treasures. This emblematic appearance of nagaraga sculptures from Densatil, would have adorned a stupa, or tashi gomang. Populating the sixth tier of the stupa, they would have been grouped together with other protective figures including the Four Guardian Kings and dharmapalas, and placed in the position of the four intermediate directions. For photographic references of the tashi gomang of Densatil with nagarajas in situ, see Olaf Czaja and Adriana Proser, Golden Visions of Densatil: A Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, New York, 2014, pp. 38-9.

Other depictions of nagarajas, now in worldwide collections and institutions, share in the sensuous, yet dynamic form bearing the hallmarks of Densatil style, though variations occur. Bearing similarities in facial structure in the square shape, the wide-rims of eyes, articulated nose, and delicately shaped mouth with another published in van Alpen, Cast for Eternity, Antwerp, 2005, p. 184, fig. 59. Leafy pendants hang along the belt in a similar fashion to that of another nagaraja in the Asia Society, New York (see Estournel, "About the 18 stupas and other treasures once at the Densatil monastery, http://asianart.com/articles/densatil, fig. 151). The U-shaped necklace, unusual for its kind which is more commonly presented as an interlocked X-shape, relates to another frieze of the deity illustrated in Henss, Cultural Monuments of Tibet, Vol I, 2014, p. 415, fig. 634a.

Published:
Ge, "Xizang Dansatisi Niboer Liujintongfo [Nepalese Gilt Bronze Buddhist Scuptures in Densatil, Tibet]", in The National Palace Museum Monthly of Chinese Art, Taipei, no. 260, 2004.11, pp. 14-23, fig. 25.

Provenance:
Acquired from Peaceful Wind Gallery, Santa Fe, 1990s