A COPPER-ALLOY COPPER-INLAID FIGURE OF A SAKYA LAMA

Tibet, 16th century

Tibet, 16th century
Seated on a double-lotus throne, the hands raised in mudra in front of the chest, the robes sweeping around the body in rhythmic folds and fluttering across the top of the base, the hem incised with a scrolling brocade, the face of serene expression beneath finely-incised hair. 11cm (4 3/8in) high.

十六世紀 薩迦喇嘛銅像

Published and Illustrated: O.Hoare, Portraits of the Masters: Bronze Sculptures of the Tibetan Buddhist Lineages, Part II, private publication, p.55, no.29.

出版著錄：O.Hoare，《Portraits of the Masters: Bronze Sculptures of the Tibetan Buddhist Lineages》，卷二，頁55，編號29

The present lot can be identified as belonging to the general field of Sakya imagery by the lotus throne and costume. The Sakya School has a strong tradition of sculpted portraiture and encouraged individually-cast portraits of the great Sakya masters, commissioned by themselves, their disciples, or spiritual disciples of later centuries. They were considered to have such well-known facial features and iconography (for those who made up their intended audience), that an inscription naming them would have been seen as unnecessary. The present lot is similar to another group of uninscribed Sakya imagery, illustrated in the first volume of Portraits of the Masters, Chicago, 2003, pls.79-82. Traditionally, those that have a youthful cast, such as the present lot, have suggested identification with Chogyal Pakpa (1235-1280) who achieved dazzling heights in scholarship, practice and career before dying at the age of 45.

Compare with a related copper-alloy figure of a Sakya Lama, Tibet, 15th century, which was sold at Bonhams New York, 14 March 2017, lot 3280.