A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF AKSHOBHYA


NEPAL, 16TH CENTURYHimalayan Art Resources item no.61809 33 cm (13 in.) high
|This accomplished gilded bronze conveys Buddha Akshobhya's essential imperturbableness, majestic and serene. He is shielded from the distractions of the outside world, deeply focused in meditation. His robe has sumptuously beaded hems with densely inset semi-precious stones in floral patterns, in a rarely seen level of splendor. The sculptor has further celebrated Akshobhya's blissful body (sambhogakaya), adorning him with inset rosettes above the ears.   Such rosettes stem from a long tradition of depicting the Five Presiding Buddhas uncrowned. This can be traced back to the Pala period, evinced by a painting of the subject on the interior of an 11th-century manuscript cover (see Kossak, Painted Images of Enlightenment, Mumbai, 2010, pp.38-9, fig.19). Rosettes are also used to distinguish the Medicine Buddha from his otherwise identical appearance to Shakyamuni in a 15th-century thangka in the McCormick Collection (Jackson, Mirror of the Buddha, New York, 2011, p.63, fig.2.35).   A close stylistic parallel to the present lot is a slightly larger Akshobhya in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc.no.1982.462.7). The overall body and facial type, the modeling of the plump fingers and toes, and the exposed nipple in high relief are almost identical. Also, the contrasting thickness of the robe's hem with its sheerness around the body is very similar. Furthermore, the robes of each figure include an extra piece of cloth draping half way down the left arm, a feature that became popular in Nepalese sculpture after the 13th century. Inset stones are however absent in the example from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.   The lotus base underlines simple petals with a complex foliate frieze, a treatment resembling that of a famous Durga shrine in the Rubin Museum of Art (see Vajracharya, Nepalese Seasons: Rain and Ritual, New York, 2016, p.132, no.39). Also compare the broad lotus petals to that of a 16th-century gilt bronze Shakyamuni published in Pal, Nepal: Where the Gods are Young, New York, 1975, p.28, fig.5. A dancing Krishna in the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai, incorrectly dated to the 18th century, is adorned with an identical gem embellishment on his floral garland. Further similarities can be found in the face and ears, and treatment of the base. Also compare the Prajnaparamita, dated to the 15th century, in the Walzer Collection, see Huntington, Circle of Bliss, Columbus, 2003, p.126, no.23.  Provenance European Private Collection, since 1982 銅鎏金阿閦佛 尼泊爾，十六世紀 喜馬拉雅藝術資源網61809號 高33釐米（13英吋） 2,500,000-3,000,000港元 此尊精美的铜鎏金阿閦佛造像氣韻莊嚴靜謐，圓滿自在。造像中阿閦佛仿彿不受外界一切干擾，正凝神入定。尊像身著佛衣，衣緣處以兩道珠鏈滾邊，其中以密集松石鑲嵌出花卉圖案，造型醒目而工藝精湛程度十分罕見。匠師進一步以嵌寶石團花裝飾於尊像顱兩側，象征佛身禪悅。 此團花裝飾源自早期未戴冠五方佛的造像傳統。參見一幅十一世紀經卷內頁繪圖可知這一團花設計自帕拉時期便已誕生（見Kossak，《Painted Images of Enlightenment》，孟買，2010年，頁38-9，圖19）。另外，McCormick收藏中一幅十五世紀唐卡便是以這一標誌性的團花辨認其中主尊為藥師佛，而非釋迦牟尼佛（Jackson，《Mirror of the Buddha》，紐約，2011年，頁63，圖2.35）。 此尊像造型風格與大都會博物館藏一尊較大阿閦佛極為接近（館藏編號1982.462.7）。對比兩尊的身材比例，面部結構，飽滿的手足，以及立體寫實的乳頭等，皆如出一轍。而兩尊所著佛衣輕薄貼體，衣緣滾邊厚重，也有異曲同工之妙。佛衣左臂處多出的一段手袖設計，是自十三世紀起就流行於尼泊爾造像中的獨特藝術偏好。大都會藏阿閦佛造像中并未使用寶石鑲嵌，而對比之下此尊中鑲嵌的寶石十分雍容大氣。 底座蓮瓣簡潔，下緣以繁複葉紋圍繞，这种獨特的搭配與紐約魯賓博物館藏一尊著名的難近母造像類似。寬大蓮瓣造型還可對比參照一尊十六世紀銅鎏金釋迦牟尼佛造像，收錄於Pal，《Nepal: Where the Gods are Young》，紐約，1975年，頁28，圖5。於孟買Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya博物館的一尊錯誤被辨認為來自十八世紀的舞蹈黑天像也能在他頭上的花環找到同樣的寶石裝飾。除此以外，兩者的法相、耳垂、以及蓮花座的鑄造亦可見相似之處。另論一尊相似的作品，現藏於Walzer收藏的十五世紀般若波羅蜜多菩薩，詳見Huntington，《Circle of Bliss》，哥倫布，2003年，頁126，23號。 來源 歐洲私人珍藏，自1982年