STATUETTE DE BOUDDHA DE MÉDECINE EN ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE DORÉ TIBET, XVE SIÈCLE

STATUETTE DE BOUDDHA DE MÉDECINE EN ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE DORÉ
TIBET, XVE SIÈCLEHimalayan Art Resources item no. 4617 17 cm (6 3/4 in.) high

A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF MEDICINE BUDDHATIBET, 15TH CENTURY西藏 十五世紀 銅鎏金藥師佛像Provenance:With Claude de Marteau, Brussels, by 1970sThe cult of the Medicine Buddha started in Northern India before spreading to the Himalayas, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. He is widely worshiped in both Vajrayana and Mahayana Buddhism to assist practitioners in overcoming physical, mental, and spiritual sickness, and to purify karmic debt. According to the Bhaisajyaguru sutra, he resides in the Eastern Pure Land of Vaiduryanirbhasa, which in Sanskrit literally means 'Pure Lapis Lazuli', drawing a parallel to his blue body that shines brighter than the sun.The Medicine Buddha, here, wears an elegant sanghati with a beaded hem which cascades over the left shoulder, displaying punch marks along the edge indicating the interior patterning of the hemline. This alternating use of beading and punching is also seen in the treatment of the robes of Gampopa from the Portraits of the Masters sale at Bonhams, New York, 14 March 2017, lot 3225. The widened lotus leaves along the front which have been flattened and articulated with hatch marks at the back are stylistic elements linked to the workshop of Sonam Gyaltsen from the Tsang province of Shigatse in Central Tibet during the 15th century and can be closely compared to a Buddha image in the Rubin Museum of Art (HAR 700092).