A very large PAIR OF GILT-COPPER REPOUSSÉ models of DEER

Tibet or Mongolia, 19th century

Tibet or Mongolia, 19th century
The creatures both recumbent, with their legs tucked underneath their bodies, each with alert expression defined by slightly-raised heads and pricked ears, one with a short single horn, stands. 61cm (24in) long. (4).

十九世紀 銅鎏金錘揲鹿形飾座一對

Provenance: Christie's New York, 21 March 2007, lot 341

來源：紐約佳士得，2007年3月21日，拍品編號341

The deer, one male and female, with their attentive demeanour, symbolise the audience of Shakyamuni Buddha's first teaching at the deer park of Sarnath after attaining enlightenment. He preached the eight-fold path towards liberation from the suffering of unenlightened life. The deer would have flanked an eight-spoked Wheel of Dharma, symbolising the Buddhist teaching or 'Turning of the Wheel', and are generally placed above the front gate of a Buddhist monastery, allowing for the path toward liberation and happiness to progress. See a similar pair of gilt copper deer, in a black and white photograph of the Shalu Monastery in Shigatse, South-central Tibet, taken in 1939 during Tucci's expedition, illustrated in Discovering Tibet: The Tucci Expeditions and Tibetan Paintings, Turin, 2015, p.50.

For another similar pair of gilt-copper deer (one on the front cover), see R.Thurman and D.Weldon, Sacred Symbols: The Ritual Art of Tibet, New York, 1999, no.1.