A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF PADMAPANI LOKESHVARA AND HAYAGRIVA...

A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF PADMAPANI LOKESHVARA AND HAYAGRIVA
CENTRAL TIBET, DENSATIL MONASTERY, CIRCA 1267
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 2804
27 cm (10 5/8 in.) high
Published
Meinrad Maria Grewenig & Eberhard Rist (eds.), Buddha: 2000 Years of Buddhist Art, 232 Masterpieces, Völklingen, 2016, pp. 328-9, no. 137.

Exhibited
Buddha: 2000 Years of Buddhist Art, 232 Masterpieces, Völklingen, 24 June 2016 —19 February 2017.

Provenance
Bodhicitta Inc., New York, 2007

銅鎏金蓮華手觀音及馬頭明王像
藏中 丹薩替 約1267年

著錄
Meinrad Maria Grewenig 及 Eberhard Rist 編，《Buddha：2000 Years of Buddhist Art，232 Masterpieces》，弗爾克林根，2016年，頁328-9，編號137

展覽
「 Buddha：2000 Years of Buddhist Art，232 Masterpieces 」，弗爾克林根，2016年6月24日至2017年2月19日

來源
Bodhicitta Inc.，紐約，2007年

This gilded sculpture is one of the finest Densatil bronzes ever appearing at auction. The Great Bodhisattva of Compassion, Avalokiteshvara, and his attendant Hayagriva share a lotus base with an auspicious vase-of-plenty (purna kalasha) placed between them. Avalokiteshvara stands in a sinuous, thrice-bent pose (tribhangha), holding a container housing a lotus flower, while another blooms by his left shoulder. Horse-headed Hayagriva sits cross-legged beside him with a pot belly and a plucky countenance, reminding us that in a Tantric context, wrathful imagery is not meant to represent anything malign but to express the invincible power and compassion of Buddhism's divine guardians.

Bearing close affinity to Nepalese sculpture, the bronze is testament to the involvement of renowned Newari artists in producing the first of Densatil monastery's glorious tashi gomang monuments. Housing eight such stupas, each a towering sculptural ensemble of more than 2,000 gilded deities, Densatil's central hall was one of the tremendous artistic wonders of Tibet. The present sculpture exemplifies these monuments' unique and fascinating iconography and the highest quality of sculptural production for Densatil, surviving in near-pristine condition.

Newari artisans headed the creation of Tibet's first tashi gomang stupa in 1208 upon being invited to Drigung monastery by its founder, Jigten Sumgon Rinchen Pel (1143-1217), who also co-founded Densatil. Rinchen Pel tasked the Newar master, Manibhadra, with supervising the construction of his shimmering vision of a sacred mountain wherein the Tantric deity Chakrasamvara presided over a heavenly palace surrounded by a retinue of 2,800 deities (Proser & Czaja (eds.), Golden Visions of Densatil, 2014, p. 29). The figure exhibits many traits of sculpture from Nepal. It is cast in copper alloy and richly gilded. The finely wrought jewelry is inset with gems. The bodies are delicate, with diminutive proportions and elegant, sensuous poses for which the sculpture of Nepal is renowned. A 13th-century Nepalese masterpiece of Standing Avalokiteshvara in the Rubin Museum of Art, New York (fig. 1), offers compelling similarities with its figural modeling, jewelry, and pleated garments. See also a roughly contemporaneous sculpture of Shadakshari Lokeshvara produced for Khasa Malla rulers, who were important patrons of Newari artisans and Densatil at this time (fig. 2; Bonhams, New York, 16 March 2015, lot 5). It is clear from these hallmarks of exquisite craftsmanship in the present bronze and others like it that the Newars were called upon once again to construct the first tashi gomang stupa at Densatil in 1267.

Other sculptures attributed by Estournel to Densatil's first tashi gomang are closely related to the present bronze (see Estournel, "About the 18 Stupas and Other Treasures Once at the Densatil Monastery", in asianart.com, 2020). For example, two gilded figures of Acala share the same type of lotus petals, jewelry, and figural modeling, clearly indicating the same workshop made them. The first is in the Rietberg Museum, Zurich (fig. 3). The second is in the Potala Palace Collection, Lhasa (see von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Vol. II, 2001, p. 1038, no. 259A or Estournel, 2020, fig. 34). Also, see a figure of Vajrasphota in a private Asian collection (Estournel, 2020, fig. 5). Finally, another refined and closely related standing bodhisattva, sold at Koller Auction, Zürich, 13 June 2017, lot 127 and now in the Robert H. Blumenfield Collection (fig. 4) would have resided on the same monument as this Avalokiteshvara and Hayagriva pairing.

Hayagriva's delightful appearance as a cheery dwarf-like nature spirit (yaksha) accompanying Avalokiteshvara is an example of Densatil's unique iconographic program. The subject conforms to the earliest Indian depictions of the deity before Hayagriva was transformed into a central tantric deity in his own right by the mid-7th century (Buswell & Lopez, The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 2014, p. 1179). Eventually becoming a meditational deity (yidam), in most other cases in Tibetan art, Hayagriva appears as a terrifying wrathful deity. Thus, this sculpture provides a scarce opportunity to collect a uniquely harmonious rendition of this key subject.

Whereas particular texts informed most artistic renditions of Tibetan Buddhist deities, Densatil's tashi gomang stupas were uniquely inspired by a vision of one of the monastery's founders. At his own Drigung monastery, Jigten Sumgon Rinchen Pel wanted to place the reliquary of his beloved teacher, Phagmodrupa (1110-70 CE), on top of the glorious spectacle of Chakrasamvara's celestial abode. The monument's multitude of deities drew on many Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, which otherwise might not appear alongside one another; it has been described as a 'mandala of mandalas.' The eight tashi gomang of Densatil followed Rinchen Pel's initial model.

An early 13th-century text charting the iconography of Drigung and Densatil's tashi gomang allows for a concrete identification of this bronze's subject and its original location on the monument. The text describes Avalokiteshvara as "holding a pure lotus in the hand" while Mahakrodha Sri Hayagriva holds a stick (after Czaja, Medieval Rule in Tibet, 2013, vol. 1, p. 527). The sculpture would have flanked the left side of a central Buddha positioned on the western face of the stupa's fourth tier. The fourth tier depicted a celestial host headlined by the Eight Great Bodhisattvas, each joined by an attendant, on either side of four central Buddhas in each cardinal direction.

Other bronzes, depicting Bodhisattva Nivaranaviskambhin with Takkiraja and Vajrapani with Acala, likely joined the present sculpture on the same tier of Densatil's first tashi gomang (see 西泠印社拍賣 [Xiling Seal Society Auction Co.], Hangzhou, 17 December 2016, lot 3800 and HAR 23151, respectively). The present sculpture is the most prized, having more sensuous figural modeling and its remaining intricately cast vase-of-plenty. Meanwhile, all three compare favorably to several other bodhisattva-with-attendant pairings known from Densatil's other tashi gomang stupas produced over 150 years approximately (see Jin Shen, Eternal Wisdom: Collection of Gilt-Bronze Buddhist Sculptures from the Hall of Harmony, 2011, nos. 144-7; Huang Chunhe, Studies on History of gDan-sa-mthil Monastery of Tibet, Beijing, 2016, pp. 167 & 385; and Estournel, 2020, figs. 27, 73, 108, 277 & 322-4; or HAR 8717, 44480, 49410 & 56989).

此銅鎏金像為拍賣上出現過的最為精美的丹薩替造像之一。大慈大悲觀世音菩薩與其隨侍馬頭明王共立處同一蓮台，之間為一個吉祥寶瓶。觀世音菩薩以柔美的三折姿站立，手持一物，其中蓮花盛開，另一朵蓮花則綻放於觀音左肩。馬頭明王盤腿安坐於觀音身側，大腹便便，面容英勇，神采飛揚，提醒著觀者：在密宗的語境中，忿怒尊所示並非凶神惡煞，而是神聖的佛教護法之無上力量與無盡慈悲。

此像與尼泊爾造像傳統緊密相連，佐證著聞名遐邇的紐瓦爾藝術家曾參與丹薩替寺第一座輝煌的吉祥多門塔「Tashi Gomang」的偉大營造。丹薩替的大殿中，八座佛塔巍然矗立，每塔皆有 2000逾尊鎏金佛像，成為西藏史上最恢弘的藝術奇蹟之一。此尊造像正生動地呈現著壯觀無比的丹薩替吉祥多門塔獨特而極富魅力的深奧圖像，以及以近乎完美之品相而流傳至今的登峰造極的造像工藝。

1208 年，紐瓦爾藝術家們應其直貢寺創建者吉天頌恭仁欽貝（1143-1217 年）之邀前來其寺，領導西藏第一座吉祥多門塔的建造。仁欽貝亦為丹薩替寺創寺祖師之一，將重任委託予紐瓦爾大師摩尼跋陀羅以督造一座其構建的金光燦然的聖山，幻現密宗本尊勝樂金剛之壇城如天宮，環繞於2800 尊神祇之中（Proser 及 Czaja 編，《Golden Visions of Densatil》，2014年，頁29）。此像展現尼泊爾造像的諸多特徵，由紅銅合金鑄造並施以厚厚鎏金。各色寶石鑲嵌著各樣珠寶飾物。人物身形柔美，優雅玲瓏，正是尼泊爾造像所為人喜愛之曼妙靈動。紐約魯賓藝術博物館藏一尊十三世紀尼泊爾觀音立像（圖 1），二尊相近處令人讚歎，身形塑造、珠寶及堆褶天衣皆如出一轍。另有一尊大致同時期之四臂觀音像，為卡薩馬拉統治者而造——他們正是紐瓦爾以及與丹薩替寺重要的供養人（圖2；邦翰斯，紐約，2015年3月16日，拍品5） 。此拍品及其相似銅像共同呈現無比精湛之紐瓦爾工藝一目了然，紐瓦爾人應確於 1267 年再次受邀為藏地興建吉祥多門塔——此次是為丹薩替所造。

其他Estournel 認為可歸為丹薩替第一座吉祥多門塔之造像則與此拍品緊密相關（見 Estournel，「About the 18 Stupas and Other Treasures Once at the Densatil Monastery」，asianart.com，2020年） 。例如，兩尊不動明王像底座之蓮瓣、珠寶、以及人物身形均遵循相同風格，顯然出自同一工坊之手。其中一尊藏於蘇黎世瑞特堡（Rietberg）博物館（圖3），另一尊則位於西藏拉薩布達拉宮（見von Schroeder，《Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet》，卷二，2001年，頁1038，編號259A；或 Estournel之文章，2020年，圖34）。另可參閱一尊亞洲私人收藏中的金剛鏁菩薩像（Estournel，2020年，圖5）。此外，Robert H. Blumenfield珍藏中有一尊精美且極為相似之菩薩立像，應與此對觀音與馬頭明王像曾立於同一靈塔之上（圖4；此造像於2017年6月13日由蘇黎世Koller拍出，拍品127）。

馬頭明王憨態可掬，如矮小的精靈，活靈活現。而將馬頭明王與觀音並列而造，為丹薩替寺獨有的圖像學創造之一例證。這一樣式與早期印度記錄相符，而後馬頭明王於七世紀中期前便已成為密宗中的一位本尊（Buswell 及 Lopez，《The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism》，2014年，頁1179）。馬頭明王最終成為重要的觀想本尊，因而在絕大多數的西藏藝術中，呈現為攝人心魄的忿怒相神祇。這尊造像亦成為對這一主題之獨特而和諧的呈現，無比珍罕。

藏傳佛教神祇之藝術形象之創造幾乎皆依循某一具體文本典範，然而丹薩替之吉祥多門塔卻獨一無二地依一位創寺祖師之觀想願景而興造。在其直貢寺，吉天頌恭仁欽貝願將尊師帕木竹巴（1110-70年）之聖物安置於輝煌的勝樂金剛壇城之頂。這座宏偉構造的多重神祇體系呈現諸多大乘佛教及金剛乘佛教之傳承，除此語境外或不會如此相鄰而列，構成被描述為「壇城之壇城」的吉祥多門塔。最終，八座靈塔實現了仁欽貝的初始的構想。

一份十三世紀時對直貢與丹薩替之吉祥多門塔之記述，令此尊造像之題材以及在靈塔之原本位置得以清晰確知。此舊檔描述觀音手持純淨蓮花，而馬頭明王則手持短杖（Czaja，《Medieval Rule in Tibet》，2013年，卷一，頁527）。此造像原應位於吉祥多門塔面西之第四層，自左側烘托著中央佛陀像。第四層造像再現八大菩薩之天宮眷屬，每一尊皆有隨侍，分別位於四面中央佛陀之兩側身旁。

可能與此尊造像同出自第一座吉祥多門塔此層之例，則有一尊除蓋障菩薩與欲帝明王造像，以及另一尊金剛手菩薩與不動明王造像（分別為西泠印社拍賣，杭州，2016年12月17日，拍品3800，以及喜馬拉雅藝術資源網23151號）。此尊Speelman珍藏之觀音與馬頭明王像無比珍罕，身形展現出鮮有可比的柔美風格，碩大寶瓶亦華麗細緻。上述三尊造像所展現之工藝水準，更勝於諸多丹薩替寺此後一百五十年間其他靈塔之菩薩與協侍造像（可參考金申，《智慧無限：合緣堂藏金銅佛像》，2011年，編號144-7；黃春和，《西藏丹薩替寺歷史研究》，北京，2016年，頁167及385；Estournel，2020年，圖27，73，108，277 & 322-4；或喜馬拉雅藝術資源網8717，44480，49410 & 56989。）

For the figures listed in this essay, please refer to our printed or digital catalogue.
關於文中所提及之參考圖，請參閱此場拍賣之電子或紙質圖錄。