STATUETTE D'AVALOKITESHVARA SAHASRABHUJA EKADASAMUKHA EN ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE DORÉ TIBET...

STATUETTE D'AVALOKITESHVARA SAHASRABHUJA EKADASAMUKHA EN ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE DORÉ
TIBET CENTRAL, VERS XVE SIÈCLE
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 1813
44 cm (17 1/4 in.) high
A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF AVALOKITESHVARA SAHASRABHUJA EKADASAMUKHA
CENTRAL TIBET, CIRCA 15TH CENTURY

Published
Meinrad Maria Grewenig & Eberhard Rist (eds), Buddha: 2000 years of Buddhist Art, 232 Masterpieces, Völklingen, 2016, p. 423, no. 184.

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

This tall gilt bronze represents Avalokiteshvara Sahasrabhuja Ekadasamukha—the All Seeing, All Encompassing Lord with One Thousand Hands and Eleven Faces—whose compassionate gaze extends to every corner of the world. The figure's iconography traces as far back as to an Indian stone relief carved in the 5th or 6th century at the rock-cut Buddhist caves of Kanheri, India. Iconographic treatises translated from Sanskrit to Chinese around the 6th century indicate the early dissemination of this form into Kashmir, Central Asia, Tang China, and the Tibetan Empire. Since the reign of the first Dharma King of the Yarlung Dynasty, Songtsen Gampo (604-50), Avalokiteshvara has been the primary tutelary deity of Tibet. Drawing on an iconographic vocabulary of many heads and arms to confer cosmic supremacy on the Great Bodhisattva, this form of Avalokiteshvara was widely revered and further developed by the Palmo and Jowo traditions, modeling the deity with benign features except for the penultimate wrathful head.

Retaining its original, gilded base plate, this image of Avalokiteshvara is executed in a refined 15th-century style emerging from a renaissance of Tibetan art, religion, and culture. Its facial modeling, together with the thin, incised lines of floral decoration with blackened silhouettes, nod to the work of Sonam Gyaltsen, a master artist active in Shigatse, c.1430, who contributed to, or perhaps created, one of Tibet's finest traditions in gilded sculpture. Also, the flowers gracing the lower garment, particularly the floral sprays gently floating in place, are nearly identical to the Chinese silk damasks gifted to Tibet during the early Ming dynasty. Rare examples include a Yongle period (1403-24) temple hanging of Shadakshari Lokeshvara in yellow silk that was sold at Bonhams, Hong Kong, 30 November 2022, lot 42, and another in red that was gifted by Sir Joseph Hotung to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (fig.1; 2002.271). For examples of Tibetan gilt bronzes of similar quality depicting Avalokiteshvara with eleven faces, see a smaller figure published in, The Light of the Buddha: Buddhist Sculptures of the Palace Museum and Zhiguan Museum of Fine Art, 2019, pp. 402-3, no. 110. Also compare the Avalokiteshvara identified by inscription to have been made by Sonam Gyaltsen, sold at Bonhams, New York, 19 March 2018, lot 3033.

For the figures listed in this essay, please refer to our printed or digital catalogue.

銅鎏金十一面千手觀音像
藏中 約十五世紀

著錄
Meinrad Maria Grewenig 及 Eberhard Rist 編，《Buddha: 2000 Years of Buddhist Art, 232 Masterpieces》，弗爾克林根，2016年，第423頁，編號184

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

這尊頎長的銅鎏金造像呈現十一面千手觀音——梵文意為「十一面千手、全知全能的救主」，其慈悲目光視及世間每一角落。這一形象最早可追溯到印度甘赫裡岩窟之公元五或六世紀所刻石浮雕。圖像學文本於六世紀時期自梵文翻譯成中文，證明這種形象於喀什米爾、中亞、唐代漢地和西藏王朝的早期傳播。自雅礱王朝第一位法王松贊幹布（604-50年）統治以來，觀音一直是藏地主要的守護神。以多面以及多臂之形象彰顯此菩薩遍及宇宙之至高地位，十一面觀音之形象在帕爾莫和覺沃傳統中廣受敬拜，並進一步發展，塑造了這位神祇的慈愛特徵，唯有上數第二層之忿怒面表現其作為至高神明的無盡神通。

此尊觀音像仍保留鎏金封底原作，以十五世紀西藏藝術、宗教以及文化之文藝復興時期間形成之精緻風格而造。其面部塑造，以及花卉裝飾的纖細雕刻線條和填黑處理，折射出索南堅贊之傳統。索南堅贊為一位約1430年前後活躍於日喀則地區的工匠大師，西藏最精美的鎏金造像傳統之一，便由其創立或推動。同樣，點綴衣物下擺的花卉，尤其是輕柔飄動的飛花，與明初賞賜藏地的漢地絲綢織錦幾乎完全相同。稀有珍品包括一幅永樂年間（1403-24年）黃底暗花緞織四臂觀音寺廟掛畫（邦瀚斯，香港，2022年11月30日，拍品42），以及由何鴻卿爵士贈予紐約大都會藝術博物館之紅暗花綾四臂觀音像（圖1；2002.271）。至於同樣品質的藏地十一面觀音鎏金銅像，請參見《佛陀之光：故宮博物院與止觀美術館佛教造像》，2019年，頁402-3，編號110。亦可參考另一尊銘文記載為索南堅贊製作的觀音造像，於2018年3月19日在紐約邦瀚斯售出，拍品3033。

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。