STATUETTE DE VAJRABHAIRAVA EN ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE TIBET, STYLE RENAISSANCE...

STATUETTE DE VAJRABHAIRAVA EN ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE
TIBET, STYLE RENAISSANCE PALA, XVIIE/XVIIIE SIÈCLE
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 34327
25.4 cm (10 in.) high
A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF VAJRABHAIRAVA
TIBET, PALA REVIVAL STYLE, 17TH/18TH CENTURY

Published
Deborah Ashencaen & Gennady Leonov, Visions of Perfect Worlds: Buddhist Art from the Himalayas, Spink & Son Ltd., London, 1999, pp. 28-9, no. 14.
Meinrad Maria Grewenig & Eberhard Rist (eds), Buddha: 2000 years of Buddhist Art, 232 Masterpieces, Völklingen, 2016, p. 489, no. 217.

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

Provenance
Truffier Estate, France
Sotheby's, New York, 26 March 1998, lot 122
Spink & Son Ltd., London, 1999

The Great Bodhisattva of Wisdom, Manjushri, transformed into this wrathful manifestation of Vajrabhairava to confront and convert the buffalo-headed god of death, Yama, to Buddhism. In each of his thirty-four arms, he brandishes ritual weapons and attributes in a fan-like arrangement around his female consort, Vajravetali, who flings her leg around his waist. His sixteen legs trample a retinue of prostrate animals and Hindu gods, conveying the primacy of Buddhist truth over all realms of existence.

Vajrabhairava features prominently in the Buddhist art history of Tibet and China. He is revered in all major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, serving as a key meditational deity (yidam) within the Sakya, Kagyu, and Gelug traditions. Yuan, Ming, and Qing emperors alike keenly adopted his practice, which eventually enabled a line of spiritual succession transcending dynastic divisions. Through forming a priest-patron relationship with the Gelug order, the Kangxi (r. 1662-1722) and Qianlong (r. 1736-95) emperors became regarded as living incarnations of Manjushri, and images of the bodhisattva in his many forms served, to some extent, to enforce the imperial mandate.

This impressive Tibetan casting is styled after 11th/12th-century Pala bronzes of northeastern India. True medieval examples, which were brought to Tibet in antiquity and preserved in monasteries or transferred to imperial collections, served as models for such emulations produced in Beijing and Lhasa. Key patrons of an archaistic milieu among Buddhist art ateliers in the 17th and 18th centuries included the luminary historian and Indophile, Taranatha (1575-1634), and the Qianlong emperor himself.

A closely related Tibetan example of Vajrabhairava in the Pala Revival style was sold at Christie's, New York, 18 March 2015, lot 4023. See another published in von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Vol. II, 2001, p. 1117, nos. 293E-F. Also compare the matching curly hair of a Mahakala published in Neven, Art Lamaïque, 1978, no. 65.

大威德金剛銅像
西藏 帕拉復興風格 十七/十八世紀

著錄
Deborah Ashencaen 及 Gennady Leonov，《Visions of Perfect Worlds：Buddhist Art from the Himalayas》，Spink & Son Ltd，倫敦，1999年，頁28-9，編號 14
Meinrad Maria Grewenig 及 Eberhard Rist 編，《Buddha: 2000 Years of Buddhist Art, 232 Masterpieces》，弗爾克林根，2016年，頁489，編號217

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
Truffier Estate，法國
蘇富比，紐約，1998年3月26日，拍品122
Spink & Son Ltd，倫敦，1999年

象徵智慧之文殊菩薩化身為此令人生畏的大威德金剛形象，以降伏並轉化牛頭死神閻摩入佛門。其三十四臂各揮舞不同法器，如扇面般懷抱其明妃金剛露漩佛母，佛母則以腿環繞其腰。與此同時，其十六足鎮壓一群俯臥的動物和印度教神祇，象徵佛教真言於各層界皆至高無上。

大威德金剛於西藏和中原歷代王朝皆盛行。其於藏傳佛教所有主要教派中皆倍受尊崇，薩迦派、噶舉派和格魯派傳統皆奉其為重要觀想本尊。元、明、清三朝皆熱衷修行其法，最終形成了超越朝代分野的精神傳承。清康熙（1662-1722）及乾隆（1736-95）兩帝也是如此，他們與格魯派建立了宗教修行與世俗供養之雙重關係。而二位皇帝被視為文殊菩薩之轉世，故文殊之多重化身與形象皆十分多見，某種程度上以強化皇權神聖。

這尊複雜而精細的西藏銅像遵循印度東北部之十一至十二世紀間之帕拉王朝風格。真正鑄造於其時之中世紀銅像作為古代珍品被帶入西藏，供奉於寺廟或轉入皇家收藏，成為後世北京以及拉薩等地造像之模板。十七、十八世紀間，佛教藝術工坊中重要的摹古風潮倡導者包括權威歷史學家、無比熱愛印度文化之多羅那他（1575-1634），以及乾隆皇帝本人。

一尊相關的帕拉復興風格之西藏大威德金剛銅像曾於2015年3月18日釋出於紐約佳士得（拍品4023）。另一相似之例著錄於von Schroeder，《Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet》， 卷II，2001年，頁1117，編號293E-F。其捲曲頭髮可與另一大黑天像相較，見Neven，《Art Lamaïque》，1978年，編號65。