A COPPER INLAID COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF SHANGLON DORJE DUDUL MAHAKALATIBET, CIRCA 15TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.30807
23.8 cm (9 3/8 in.) high注脚Holding a staff and vase bearing the symbolic Three Jewels of Buddhism (triranta), the bronze depicts the very rarely seen protector of the Tibetan Buddhist medical tradition, Shanglon Dorje Dudul. Curiously, Shanglon Dorje Dudul is unshod here, whereas he typically wears boots. He is dressed in ministerial garb with a petal-form projection at each shoulder representing the ends of his short-sleeved mantle being flung in the air from his frenetic activity. His face has three alert eyes and the semi-wrathful grimace of a Mahakala guardian. The leaves of his crown are cast in the form of visvavajras, and an effigy of Shakyamuni Buddha appears before his double-tiered coiffure.

It is even less common to find artistic depictions of Shanglon Dorje Dudul before the 17th century. Yet, many elements of this casting are consistent with sculpture from 15th-century Central and Western Tibet. For example, the broad lotus petals around the base, and the use of copper inlay on the hemline of his robe are concordant with earlier sculpture. So are the sweep of his long hair and its fringe below the crown, and the shape of the crown leaves and their inclusion of inset stones.

The Rubin Museum of Art has a c.15th-century sculpture of Shanglon Dorje Dudu depicted standing (HAR 700072), and the American Natural History Museum, New York has a seated gilt bronze Qing version (HAR 94963), but otherwise few and far between, the present bronze may represent the best sculptural example of this unusual deity.

Provenance
Private French Collection


錯紅銅尚龍護法銅像
西藏，約十五世紀
喜馬拉雅藝術資源網30807號
高23.8釐米（9 3/8英吋）

400,000-600,000港幣

手持鑲有三寶之權杖與寶瓶，此尊銅像呈現藏醫傳統中極為罕見的佛教護法神：尚龍多傑敦都，亦稱尚龍護法。此尊造像刻畫尚龍護法的赤足形象，不同於常見之著靴形象。護法身穿朝服，肩膀立有兩道花瓣狀的突起，代表著隨風飛起的罩衣短袖邊緣。其面有警醒的三目，神情為大黑天護法之半忿怒狀，頭頂雙層髮髻前安放化佛，頭戴十字金剛杵形寶冠冠葉。

尚龍護法像極少出現在十七世紀以前。然而，本作品的諸多細節都與十五世紀藏中與藏西之造像一致。例如，蓮花座上寬闊的花瓣與長衣鑲邊處的錯紅銅均與早期造像相似。護法頭上的長髮與寶冠下的髮簾、冠葉的形狀與寶石的鑲嵌同樣有跡可尋。

除了魯賓藝術博物館的一件十五世紀尚龍護法立像（喜馬拉雅藝術資源網700072號）與美國自然歷史博物館則藏一件清代鎏金坐像（喜馬拉雅藝術資源網94963號）之外，此題材造像存世極少，本拍品可能為刻畫尚龍護法的最高水平造像。

來源
法國私人珍藏