A SILVER FIGURE OF USHNISHAVIJAYA


TIBET, CIRCA 17TH CENTURYHimalayan Art Resources item no.61767 12 cm (4 3/4 in.) high
|The seated goddess is lavishly adorned with crowns, necklaces, and bracelets inset with semi-precious stones. Yet her dignified beauty surpasses the glamour of all her jewels. With a friendly and compassionate expression on her principal face, she gracefully extends one of her eight hands forward, granting wishes to her admirers. Here Ushnishavijaya fulfills wishes for long life. As the personification of a Buddhist mantra associated with longevity and favorable rebirth, she is one of the three long-life deities in Tibetan Buddhism, together with Amitayus and White Tara. According to Amy Heller, images of the goddess "were frequent commissions by lay people, either made as part of memorial rituals, to accompany prayers for favorable rebirth of a loved one or to gain merit in the hopes of a favorable rebirth for those not yet deceased." (See Heller, Tibetan Art: Tracing the Development of Spiritual Ideals and Art in Tibet, Milan, 1999, p.196). This might explain why this exceptional sculpture of Ushnishavijaya has the benefit of being cast in silver, considered more precious than gilded copper in Tibet. The commission is more meritorious, being more costly, and the bronze more efficacious. Another lavish example of Ushnishavijaya cast in silver is published in ibid., p.197, no.105. A related gilt silver figure of White Tara formerly in the Rockefeller Collection, is published in Leidy, Treasures of Asian Art, New York, 1994, p.88, fig.71. Also compare the modeling and treatment of the garment to a circa-17th-century silver figure of Mahapratisara in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, published in Weldon and Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet, London, 1999, pp.124-5, pl.29. Provenance The Younghusband Expedition to Tibet, 1903-4 Private Collection, United Kingdom 銀質尊勝佛母像 西藏，約十七世紀喜馬拉雅藝術資源網61767號 高12釐米（4 3/4 英吋）2,500,000-3,000,000港元 佛母頭戴寶冠、周身嚴飾嵌有寶石的項鏈、釧鐲等，十分富麗華美。然而佛母莊嚴秀美的面龐則比珠飾更具華貴之氣。佛母主面表情慈悲和善，一手向前舒展，結與願印保佑眾生心想事成。 尊勝佛母，與無量壽佛、白度母合稱藏傳佛教中的長壽三本尊，是《尊勝咒》的擬人化化現，保佑信眾壽命增長，往生極樂世界。學者艾米·海勒在其著作中提到「尊勝佛母常由未受戒的供養人出資鑄造，供奉於重要儀式中為過世親人祈求往生極樂世界，或者為在世者積累功德，期盼將來可往生極樂。」（參見Heller，《Tibetan Art: Tracing the Development of Spiritual Ideals and Art in Tibet》， 米蘭，1999年，頁196）。或許正是出於如此虔誠的發心，此尊勝佛母全像以比鎏金銅更為珍貴的白銀打造，而高昂的造價也使此像更加殊勝難得。 另一尊同樣精美的銀質尊勝佛母造像收綠於以上同冊Heller著作中（頁197，圖105）。類似一尊洛克菲勒家族舊藏銀鎏金白度母造像可參見Leidy著，《Treasures of Asian Art》, 紐約，1994年，頁88，圖71。此尊佛母造型和衣紋處理也可參照菩薩道藏的一尊約十七世紀銀質大隨求佛母像，參見Weldon與Casey Singer，《The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet》, 倫敦，1999年，頁124-5，圖29。 來源 榮赫鵬遠征西藏，1903-4年 英國私人收藏