STATUETTE DU QUATRIÈME SAKYA TRIDZIN, SONAM TSEMO, EN ALLIAGE DE...

STATUETTE DU QUATRIÈME SAKYA TRIDZIN, SONAM TSEMO, EN ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE DORÉ
TIBET, XVIE SIÈCLE
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 1825
13 cm (5 1/8 in.) high
A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF THE FOURTH SAKYA TRIDZIN, SONAM TSEMO
TIBET, 16TH CENTURY

Provenance
Sotheby's, New York, before 1976

Sonam Tsemo (1142-82) held office as Sakya monastery's 'throne-holder' (Sakya Tridzin) for only three short years before passing it to his younger brother so that he could devote his life to unencumbered study. He never married or fathered children, preferring the life of a retreatant, yet Sonam Tsemo remained a lay practitioner, indicated by his long-sleeved cloak. Revered for his scholasticism as the Sakya's Second Founding Patriarch (Jetsun Gongma Nga), his foundational texts include a commentary on the Bodhicharyavatara by Shantideva, explanations on the final two chapters of the Hevajra root tantra, instructions for reading Sanskrit, and Door to the Dharma, a text giving an overview of all of the Buddha's teachings.

Portraits of Sonam Tsemo, like the present lot, often show him wearing finely ornamented robes, with curled locks and a gentle countenance. Two further bronzes, and a painting of the master with his younger brother, Dragpa Gyaltsen, depict him similarly (HAR 7835; Bonhams, New York, 21 March 2023, lot 521; and Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 67.831, respectively). In all three sculptural examples, his cloak features a cloud-collar, a Chinese motif with connotations of heavenly authority. The cloud-collar was adopted by the Sakya, who enjoyed administrative rule of Tibet under Mongol hegemony during the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368). The imperial support of Sonam Tsemo's noble line shows further articulation in the engraved saptaratna ('seven jewels'), the insignia of a chakravartin, or divine ruler. The intricately chased robe and the inscribed visvavajra on the sculpture's consecration plate underneath pay homage to the dynamic Yuan-Sakya alliance, which at its peak fostered an environment of cultural and artistic syncretism that would precipitate the creation of such jewel-like expressions of this figure's esteem.

銅鎏金四世薩迦法王索南孜摩像
西藏 十六世紀

來源
蘇富比，紐約，1976年前

索南孜摩（1142-82）僅僅擔任薩迦寺之座主（薩迦法王）三年 ，便傳位予弟弟，此後得以無所掛慮、潛心修習。 其一生從未結婚、生子，傾心於避世的生活，但從其衣袍之長袖可以看出，索南孜摩始終為一名在家修行者，而非出家僧人。其以學術成就聞名於世，為薩迦五祖之第二祖師，其核心著作包括對寂天菩薩《入菩薩行論》之詮釋、對喜金剛根本續最後兩章之闡述、梵文閱讀指引，以及概述佛陀所有教義的《佛法入門》。

如本拍品一樣，索南孜摩肖像大多顯示其身穿精美長袍，頭髮鬈曲，面容溫和。另見兩尊銅像（分別見喜馬拉雅藝術資源網7835號以及邦瀚斯，紐約，2023年3月21日，拍品521）以及一幅其與弟弟扎巴堅贊之畫像（波士頓美術館，67.831），刻畫皆近似。本拍品與前述兩尊造像中，祖師皆穿着雲肩，此符號成為於中國文化中天人權威之象徵。在蒙古人所治之元朝時期（1279-1368），薩迦派享有對西藏的行政統治權，並將雲肩納入其著裝範疇。當時蒙古宮廷對索南孜摩所代表的薩迦傳承之支持，更體現在長袍的精心設計的雕刻圖案上，例如所刻「七寶」象徵神聖統治者「轉輪聖王」。雕刻精美的長袍，以及封底所刻十字金剛杵，皆向元代宮廷與薩迦派之結盟致敬，這段聯盟的鼎盛時期孕育了文化與藝術的交融，催生出如此造像般熠熠閃光的、對偉大人物的尊崇的表現方式。