STATUETTE DU FONDATEUR DE L'ORDRE DRIGUNG KAGYU, JIGTEN SUMGON RINCHEN...

STATUETTE DU FONDATEUR DE L'ORDRE DRIGUNG KAGYU, JIGTEN SUMGON RINCHEN PEL, SUR SON TRÔNE, EN ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE DORÉ AVEC INCRUSTATION D'ARGENT
TIBET CENTRAL, MONASTÈRE DE DENSATIL, XIIIE/XVIE SIÈCLE
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 1821
18.1 cm (7 1/8 in.) high
A SILVER INLAID GILT COPPER ALLOY ENSHRINED
FIGURE OF THE FOUNDER OF THE DRIGUNG KAGYU
ORDER, JIGTEN SUMGON RINCHEN PEL
CENTRAL TIBET, DENSATIL MONASTERY, 13TH/14TH CENTURY

Published
Meinrad Maria Grewenig & Eberhard Rist (eds), Buddha: 2000 Years of Buddhist Art, 232 Masterpieces, Völklingen, 2016, p. 392, no. 169.

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

Provenance
Private European Collection

Seated on an ornate throne is Jigten Sumgon Rinchen Pel (1143-1217), whose honorific appellation means, 'Precious One, The Protector of the Three Worlds'. He sits emulating the Buddha, as he holds the gesture referencing the proclamation of Gautama's enlightenment. Hearing the Kagyu master's name, Phagmodrupa (1110-70), Jigten Sumgon sought his dharmic teachings in the remote mountainous region, later to be known as Densatil. He became one of the earliest and most renowned practitioners under this guidance, extending the Kagyu lineage throughout Tibet. Donning a patchwork robe, Jigten Sumgon poignantly sits on a raised pedestal, in a double-entendre evoking Mt. Meru, the mountain at the center of Buddhist cosmology, and his own temporal seat of power as the founder of Drigung monastery and the Drigung Kagyu order in 1179.

His order dominated the political landscape of Tibet in the late 12th and 13th centuries, enjoying great wealth and patronage. Through Jigten Sumgon's fame, the Drigung Kagyu's presence extended from a rocky mountainside in Central Tibet to eastern Tibet and as far west as India. According to his biography, images in Jigten Sumgon's likeness were produced in the thousands for disciples to carry with them as they traveled. In the early 13th century, his portrait appears as far west as Alchi (Jackson, Painting Traditions of the Drigung Kagyu School, 2015, p. 11, fig. 1.25). In many instances, painting and sculpture, he is immediately recognizable by his upright posture, athletic build, form-fitting monastic vest, tall forehead, and receding hairline (e.g., ibid., pp. 86 & 90, figs. 5.9 & 5.13A).

This gilded portrait is among very few examples of Jigten Sumgon to be preserved with the original stepped-throne and decorative back-plate inlaid with semi-precious stones. Two other examples are located in Musée Guimet, Paris (fig. 1; MA 6032) and the Potala Palace, Lhasa (Jackson, 2015, p. 89, fig. 5.12). All three sculptures likely survive from Densatil rather than Drigung, which was razed to the ground in 1297. Lama portraits were part of the iconographic program of Densatil's famed tashi gomang stupas, on which several seated on similar thrones were photographed in 1948 (Czaja & Proser, Golden Visions of Densatil, 2014, p. 39, fig. 15). Portrait bronzes were also placed on shelves in front of a stupa erected for Jigten Sumgon at Densatil after his death in 1217 (ibid., p. 34, fig. 14). As one of Phagmodrupa's two principal adherents, Jigten Sumgon, was instrumental in Densatil's founding. He served as the monastery's second abbot and for much of the late 12th and 13th centuries, Densatil and Drigung were considered 'correlated sees' (Henss, Cultural Monuments in Tibet, vol. I, p. 621).

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

銅錯銀鎏金直貢噶舉初祖吉天頌恭仁欽貝像
藏中 丹薩替 十三/十四世紀

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392，編號 169

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

端坐於華麗寶座之上的是吉天頌恭仁欽貝（1143-1217年），意名為「珍寶者、三界怙主」。如其手印所示，其姿態效仿佛陀宣告成道時的坐姿。仁欽貝在聽聞噶舉派大師帕摩竹巴（1110-1170年）盛名後，前往偏遠山區希求妙法，此地後稱丹薩替。他後來成為最早且最著名的帕摩竹巴座下修行者之一，並將噶舉派傳遍藏地。仁欽貝身著樸素福田衣，暗示其為佛陀的虔敬弟子；其身下高臺既象徵佛教早期宇宙觀中的須彌山，又暗指這位1179年直貢噶舉派創始人的威嚴法座。

其教派在十二世紀末至十三世紀主導藏地的政治格局，享有巨大的財富和供養。直貢噶舉憑藉仁欽貝的聲望，自藏中之山區向東擴展至藏區東部，西則至印度。根據其傳記記載，人們製作了數以千計之仁欽貝像，以便弟子遊歷修行時隨身攜帶。十三世紀初，遙遠至西面的阿爾奇寺亦見其像（Jackson著，《Painting Traditions of the Drigung Kagyu School》，紐約，2015年，頁11，圖1.25）。在諸多例證中，其畫像與造像一樣，上師之特徵清晰可辨：仁欽貝端直而坐、身形俊美、著合身喇嘛坎肩、額頭高企、髮際後移（同上，第86頁，圖5.9；第90頁，圖5.13A）。

此尊鎏金造像為屈指可數的幾尊仍配有嵌半寶石之階梯式寶座以及華美背板的造像之一。另外兩尊相似造像一則收藏於吉美博物館（圖1，編號MA 6032），另一尊現存於布達拉宮（同上，頁89，圖5.12）。二例以及本拍品或皆出自丹薩替，而非毀於1297年之直貢梯寺。丹薩替寺最富盛名之吉祥多門塔興造，其中一項便為喇嘛肖像，而拍攝於1948年之照片則留下了幾尊安坐於相似寶座上之上師像（見Czaja 及 Proser，《Golden Visions of Densatil》， 2014，頁39，圖15）。隨著吉天頌恭於1217年圓寂，為其所修造之靈塔前架上亦曾安放上師像（同上，頁34，圖14）。作為帕木竹巴兩位座下大弟子之一，吉天頌恭於丹薩替之興建中舉足輕重。其曾擔任丹薩替第二任住持，而在十二世紀晚期到十三世紀大部分時間，丹薩替寺以及直貢梯寺始終被視為緊密相連的兩大法座（參閱Henss，《Cultural Monuments in Tibet》，卷一，頁621）。

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。