STATUETTE DE TARA VERTE EN ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE DORÉ DYNASTIE...

STATUETTE DE TARA VERTE EN ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE DORÉ
DYNASTIE MING, MARQUE À SIX CARACTÈRES ET ÉPOQUE YONGLE
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 1830
15 cm (5 7/8 in.) high
A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF GREEN TARA
MING DYNASTY, YONGLE SIX-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD

Provenance
An Important Private European Collection

This exquisite, finely cast gilt-bronze sculpture, created in the imperial workshops during the Yongle reign (1403-24) of the Ming dynasty (1368-44), represents Tara, 'Mother of all Buddhas' or 'Mother of all Victorious Ones', a goddess of compassion and action, an important protector, savior, and liberator from the earthly realm of birth and rebirth.

Following Nepalese and Tibetan convention, Tara has the status and ranking of an enlightened buddha yet appearing in the guise of a female bodhisattva, embodied as a graceful, beautiful young woman. Here, Tara is depicted in her principal and minor form with one face, two arms and hands. She is peaceful in appearance, seated in a relaxed pose, her slender body gently swaying to one side, her right leg extended and resting on a lotus cushion, her left leg drawn up against her body. Her right arm reaching across her knee with the palm of her hand open and facing upwards in the gesture of supreme generosity holding the stem of a lotus blossoming next to the right ear. Her left arm is drawn up against her body as she holds an utpala between the thumb and ring finger to her heart, blossoming next to her left ear, both emblematic mudras expressing her compassionate virtues. The eye at the center of the forehead in the form of a raised cabochon between her eyebrows shows her active awareness and compassionate engagement with the suffering of all sentient beings in the universe. Tara is seated on a throne made of two layers of finely curled lotus petals, alluding to the belief that the goddess emerged from a lotus bud rising from a lake of tears shed for the suffering of sentient beings by the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, her face embodying the delicacy of a million lotus blossoms, see Glenn Mullin, Mystical Verses of a Dalai Lama, New Delhi, 2003, p. 57. Serene, with a hint of a smile, Tara is dressed in fine diaphanous robes and shawls, richly adorned in bejeweled necklaces, bangles, anklets, long chains of beads and large circular earrings, all reflecting her celestial status. Her tiara features eight bejewelled upright lappets alluding to the Buddha's noble eightfold path to enlightenment whose status and rank Tara shares.

Tara is rendered in a graceful way displaying a great sense of ease in her posture. The soft, gently rounded contours of her body and the full face with its delicate features are unlike sculpture made under the Song and Jin dynasties. Stylistically, this Tara has its roots in the long artistic tradition that can be traced to northeastern India in the eleventh and twelfth centuries from where it spread to Nepal and Tibet. Her wide shoulders, smooth torso and long legs originally derive from Indian traditions while her high cheekbones, full cheeks and elegantly curved eyebrows are rooted in Nepali and Tibetan traditions.

Tibetan Buddhism or Lamaism saw a considerable surge in popularity in China under the Mongols, who had adopted it as their national religion even before their conquest of China. Because of political and religious ties between the imperial court and the dominant Tibetan religious orders, and the exchange of gifts between the court and Tibetan hierarchs, the influence of Himalayan sculptural styles began to make an impact on Buddhist imagery during the Yuan and in the early Ming dynasty. Early fourteenth century woodblock prints made for the monastery of Yangshen Yuan, Hangzhou, are evidence of a new style appearing in Chinese Buddhist art, see Heather Karmay, Early Sino-Tibetan Art, Warminster, 1975, pp. 47-50. The gently smiling faces, full rounded figures and tiered thrones in these woodblock prints reflect the Newar styles favoured in Tibet and introduced to China by Nepalese artists working at the Ming court after the arrival of Anige (1245–1306), a young Nepali artist known for his mastery in casting bronze sculptures, who was brought to Beijing in 1262 by Drogön Chogyal Phagpa (1235–80), an influential Tibetan monk of the Sakya sect. Anige became an important figure at the Mongol court and served as the director of all artisan classes and controller of the Imperial Manufactories Commission, see Denise Leidy, 'Buddhist Art', in James C.Y. Watt and Denise Patry Leidy, Defining Yongle. Imperial Art in Early Fifteenth Century China, New York, 2005, pp. 61-101.

While Tibetan Buddhist imagery first appeared in the repertory of Chinese art in the Yuan dynasty, Tibetan influence on Chinese Buddhist art became far more pronounced in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), particularly under Zhu Di (1360-1424), who ruled as Chengzu, the Yongle emperor between 1403-24. The emperor's attachment to Tibetan Buddhism was behind a large-scale production of precious Buddhist images and ritual implements made by skilled craftsmen in the imperial workshops. As James C.Y. Watt writes, these craftsmen, together with their Chinese counterparts, established workshops of the highest standard, particularly in metalwork, a material highly esteemed by the Mongol rulers, see James C.Y. Watt, 'Yongle and the Arts of China', in James C.Y. Watt and Denise Patry Leidy, op.cit., p. 15. As the Yuan court before him, the Yongle emperor made a concerted effort to reestablish and build secular and religious alliances with Tibet. Under his patronage, sculptures, textiles, and ritual implements played an important role in the exchange between religious centres in Tibet and the court in Beijing. Over fifty gilt-bronze images each bearing the finely incised inscription Da Ming Yongle nian shi (bestowed in the Yongle era of the great Ming) are recorded in Tibetan monastery collections which they entered as gifts from the Yongle emperor, see Ulrich von Schröder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Hong Kong, 2001, vol. II, pp. 1237-91. Tibetan-style Buddhism was little practiced outside the imperial court, so most such images likely were originally made in the imperial workshops for the court, as indicated by the imperial inscriptions.

As in Tibet, the cult of Tara enjoyed was very popular at the Yongle court and at least ten imperial gilt-bronze sculptures are known in public and private collections outside of Tibet. With its slightly willowy and ethereal appearance the present figure relates strongly to a beautiful gilt-bronze figure of Tara formerly in the Berti Aschmann Collection and now in the Rietberg Museum, Zürich (Fig. 1), published in Helmut Uhlig, On the Path to Enlightenment: The Berti Aschmann Foundation of Tibetan Art at the Museum Rietberg, Zürich, 1995, pp. 146-148, nos. 92-93, where a second figure is illustrated. Other examples include one in the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrated in Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p. 517, pl. 144D; another example in the Chang Foundation, Taipei, published in James Spencer, Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, Taipei, 1993, p. 111, pl. 48; another Tara formerly in the Usher P. Coolidge Collection, and illustrated in Heather Karmay, op.cit. , p. 88, pl. 56; two further examples are in Tibetan monastery collections, illustrated in Ulrich von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculpture in Tibet, Hong Kong, 2001, pp. 1276-8, pls 356C-356F; one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Splendours from the Yongle (1403-1424) and Xuande (1426-1435) Reigns of China's Ming Dynasty, Beijing, 2012, p. 247, pl. 122.

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

銅鎏金綠度母像
明 永樂 「大明永樂年施」款

來源
重要歐洲私人珍藏

這件精心鑄造的鎏金度母銅像，創作於明朝永樂年間（1403-1424）的皇家工坊。度母又稱「諸佛之母」，乃是一位慈悲與救度的女神、重要的保護者、救贖者，生死輪迴中令人得解脫者。

遵循尼泊爾和西藏的傳統，度母具有成佛者的地位與階級，但通常以優雅、美麗的年輕女性形象出現。在此，度母外貌平和，姿態自然，纖細的身體輕輕向一側傾斜，右腿伸展並放於蓮花之上，左腿抵於身體。左右兩臂間皆有一蓮花，盛開於肩頭，手勢彷若與願印，表達其慈悲美德。額頭中央的眼睛如同一顆凸起的寶石，顯示出她對宇宙中眾生的苦難的積極覺知和慈悲參與。度母坐在由兩層精緻捲曲的蓮花瓣組成的寶座上，暗示著度母誕生於觀世音因眾生苦難而落淚所形成之湖中的一朵蓮花這一信仰，而其度母的臉亦如蓮花般細膩（見Glenn Mullin，《Mystical Verses of a Dalai Lama》，新德里，2003年，頁57）。度母面帶微笑，身著精緻的輕薄長袍和披肩，豐富裝飾著珠寶項鍊、手鐲、腳鍊、串珠和大圓耳環，昭示她的天界地位。

由於明帝國與主要的藏傳佛教教派之間的政治和宗教聯繫，以及宮廷與藏傳佛教重要人物之間的贈禮，喜馬拉雅造像以及其風格對佛教圖像的影響在元朝及明朝初期開始顯現。杭州寺院製作的十四世紀早期木雕刻板，是中國佛教藝術出現新風格的證據，見Heather Karmay，《Early Sino-Tibetan Art》，沃敏斯特，1975年，頁47-50。這些木版畫中溫柔微笑的面孔、飽滿的身形和分層的寶座反映了在西藏受青睞、並由在明朝宮廷工作的尼泊爾藝術家引入中國的紐瓦爾風格。尼泊爾年輕藝術家阿尼哥（1245-1306）為這種風格之遷移與借鑒的先驅，其以鑄造銅雕像的精湛技藝而聞名，於1262年被薩迦派的影響力巨大的大師八思巴（1235-80）帶到北京，並將紐瓦爾風格一同帶入。阿尼哥在蒙古宮廷成為一位重要人物，擔任所有工匠類別的統領和宮廷造辦處的管理者。參考Denise Leidy，〈Buddhist Art〉，見James C.Y. Watt 及 Denise Patry Leidy，《Defining Yongle. Imperial Art in Early Fifteenth Century China》，紐約，2005年，頁61-101。

度母題材在永樂宮廷極受歡迎，至少已知十尊宮廷鎏金銅像在西藏以外的公共和私人收藏中。此尊造像以其稍顯柔弱與空靈的外貌，與位於蘇黎世瑞特堡博物館、曾屬Berti Aschmann收藏的一尊美麗的鎏金度母像（圖１）密切相關，該造像著錄於Helmut Uhlig，《On the Path to Enlightenment: The Berti Aschmann Foundation of Tibetan Art at the Museum Rietberg》，蘇黎世，1995年，頁146-148，編號92-93，此處亦有另一尊造像著錄。其他範例包括一例於芝加哥藝術學院，見von Schroeder，《Indo-Tibetan Bronzes》，香港，1981年，頁517，圖版144D；另一例在台北鴻禧藝術文教基金會，見James Spencer，《Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal》，台北，1993年，頁111，圖版48。另一度母曾屬於Usher P. Coolidge收藏，並著錄於Heather Karmay上述著作，頁88，圖版56。兩尊造像位於西藏寺廟收藏中，見von Schroeder,《Buddhist Sculpture in Tibet》，香港，2001年，頁1276-8，圖版356C-356F。一例在北京故宮博物院，著錄於《明永樂宣德文物特展》，北京，2012年，頁247，圖版122。

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