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NEPAL, 9TH/10TH CENTURY Himalayan Art Resources item no.68439 6.5 cm (2 5/8 in.) high
Footnotes
Published David Weldon and Jane Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, London, 1999, p.70, fig.41. Franco Ricca, Arte Buddhista Tibetana: Dei e Demoni dell'Himalaya, Turin, 2004, fig. IV.9.
Exhibited Arte Buddhista Tibetana: Dei e Demoni dell'Himalaya, Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin, 18 June – 19 September 2004. Wutaishan: Pilgrimage to Five Peak Mountain, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 10 May 2007 – 16 October 2007. Casting the Divine: Sculptures of the Nyingjei Lam Collection, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2 March 2012 – 11 February 2013.
Provenance The Nyingjei Lam Collection On loan to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1996-2005 On loan to the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2005-2019
Solidly cast in parcel-gilt silver, the weight and jewel-like quality of this diminutive sculpture conveys a much larger presence. The lower garment is meticulously incised and gilded, and the jewelry is well-defined, striking a contrast with the bare and sensuous torso and limbs. Easily held in one's hand, the sculpture is intimate and a joy to engage with, which explains its heavily rubbed surface from sustained propitiation, resulting in a desirable smooth patina.
The sculpture represents Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Perfected Wisdom, in a rare form deriving from Mahayana Buddhist literature. Unlike his common, sword-brandishing iconography, Manjushri sits here in a relaxed posture with his right hand extended in the wish-fulfilling gesture and his left holding a blue lotus in bloom by his left shoulder. Other diagnostic features include Manjushri's youthfulness, tiger-tooth pendant necklace, and the three long tufts of hair—one on top of his head and two falling to his shoulders.
A close stylistic parallel is a larger copper alloy figure of Manjushri, attributed to 10th-century Nepal, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1978.394.1). The copper Manjushri wears a comparable tiger-tooth necklace and holds an almost identical blue lotus in his left hand, but also has a seed or small fruit in his right hand which is not represented in the current work. The two also share a similar facial type of slightly chubby cheeks and well-defined pupils.
Compare the lozenge-shaped patterns on his lower garment and the beaded belt with circular buckle with that of a Nepalese gilt bronze Avalokiteshvara in the Nyingjei Lam Collection (Weldon & Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet, London, 1999, p.68, fig.38). Also, refer to a 10th-century Nepalese standing Manjushri, with similar armbands, hair, jewelry, and decorative lozenges in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1982.220.13), helping to inform this rare figure's 9th-/10th-century date.
著錄 David Weldon與Jane Casey Singer,《The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection》,倫敦,1999年,頁70,圖41。 Franco Ricca,《Arte Buddhista Tibetana: Dei e Demoni dell' Himalaya》,都靈,2004年,圖IV.9。
展覽 「Arte Buddhista Tibetana: Dei e Demoni dell'Himalaya」,布里凱拉西奧宮,都靈,2004年6月18日至9月19日。 「Wutaishan: Pilgrimage to Five Peak Mountain」,魯賓藝術博物館,紐約,2007年5月10日至10月16日。 「Casting the Divine:Sculptures of the Nyingjei Lam Collection」,魯賓藝術博物館,紐約,2012年3月2日至2013年2月11日。
菩薩道收藏中另有一尊尼泊爾銅鎏金觀音像,可與本拍品天衣上的菱形圖紋、珠串腰帶以及腰帶上圓形珠寶扣相較,見Weldon與Casey Singer著《The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection》, 倫敦,1999年,頁68,圖38。另參考一件大都會博物館藏十世紀尼泊爾文殊菩薩像(編號1982.220.13),其臂釧、髮式、珠寶裝飾與衣物菱形圖案均與本拍品十分相似,可佐證本尊罕見銀像應同屬九或十世紀之作。
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