STATUETTE DE HEVAJRA EN ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE DORÉ TIBET CENTRAL,...

STATUETTE DE HEVAJRA EN ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE DORÉ
TIBET CENTRAL, XVE/XVIE SIÈCLE
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 1822
23.8 cm (9 3/8 in.) high
A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF HEVAJRA
CENTRAL TIBET, 15TH/16TH CENTURY

Published
Meinrad Maria Grewenig & Eberhard Rist (eds), Buddha: 2000 Years of Buddhist Art, 232 Masterpieces, Völklingen, 2016, p. 454, no. 200.

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

Provenance
Private European Collection

This bold casting of one of Tantric Buddhism's foremost meditational deities (yidams) depicts the 'Mother-Father' (yab-yum) union of Hevajra and Nairatmya, embracing in an interpenetrative cosmic dance. This sixteen-armed form known as Kapaladhara Hevajra, shows Hevajra holding an array of skull cups, with eight containing animals representing the Eight Diseases, and the other eight containing deities representing the corresponding cures. His consort, Nairatmya, is a tantric manifestation of Prajnaparamita, the mother of all Buddhas.

Among the animals representing diseases modeled in the skull cups is a bad-tempered cat (liver disease), asharabha(disease of the spleen), a man (smallpox), a camel (leprosy), a bull (brain hemorrhage), a horse (insanity), and an elephant (lung disease). As Hevajra and Nairatmya represent the chrysalis through which to transcend these diseases, the animals turn inwards towards the divine couple, while the deities turn outwards, bestowing health and good fortune on the viewer.

The youthful cosmic couple is beautifully adorned with opulent gilding, detailed jewelry, and red pigment, reinforcing the perfection of their bodies and minds. Their physiognomy, consisting of widened eyes and furrowed brows, together with the slender modeling of limbs standing over ovoid bases are characteristic of gilt bronzes dated to the 15th and 16th centuries, a high point of Tibetan art history. Compare these features to another multi-armed tantric form of Chakrasamvara (Bonhams, Hong Kong, 1 December 2023, lot 1820) and to another of the same subject in Fondation Alain Bordier, at the Tibet Museum in Gruyères (ABS 179).

銅鎏金喜金剛像
藏中 十五/十六世紀

著錄
Meinrad Maria Grewenig 及 Eberhard Rist 編，《Buddha：2000 Years of Buddhist Art，232 Masterpieces》，弗爾克林根，2016年，頁454，編號 200

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
歐洲私人珍藏

此尊風格鮮明之造像呈現密宗中最重要的觀想本尊之一，為喜金剛與無我佛母「陰陽雙運」交融於靈性之舞。此十六臂形態之形象被稱為持嘎巴拉喜金剛，呈現喜金剛手臂依次展開，各持骨碗，其中八隻盛裝八獸，象征八疾；另八隻碗中則有八尊神祇，象征對治相應疾苦。其明妃為無我佛母，乃眾佛之母般若波羅蜜多佛母之密宗化現。

骨碗中代表疾病的動物則包括怒貓（肝病）、八足獸（脾病）、男人（天花）、駱駝（麻風）、公牛（腦溢血）、馬（癔癥）以及象（肺病）。喜金剛與無我佛母則象征消除疾病之轉化途徑，因此諸獸朝向雙身佛，而諸神朝外，將健康與好運賜予觀者。

這尊年輕的雙身神祇像飾以華麗鎏金與精緻珠寶，髮上則施赤色顏料，更顯其身心已圓滿具足。其面容突出，蹙眉怒目、肢體纖長，立於橢圓底座之上，屬十五至十六世紀這段西藏藝術史鼎盛時期之銅鎏金造像特徵。可參考另一密宗形象之多臂勝樂金剛像（邦瀚斯，香港，2023年12月1日，拍品1820）以及瑞士格呂耶爾Alain Bordier 基金會之西藏博物館所藏同題材造像（館藏編號 ABS 179）。