STATUETTE DU SEPTIÈME KARMAPA, CHODRAG GYATSO, EN ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE...

STATUETTE DU SEPTIÈME KARMAPA, CHODRAG GYATSO, EN ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE DORÉ
TIBET, XVIE/DÉBUT XVIIE SIÈCLE
A Tibetan inscription at the back of the base:
རྟོག་གེའི་ཀླད་འགེམས་ཆོས་གྲགས་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་ཞབས།
Translated: "Through reasoning confounding [others], to Chodrag Gyastso, I bow!"
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 1824
16.8 cm (6 5/8 in.) high
A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF THE SEVENTH KARMAPA, CHODRAG GYATSO
TIBET, 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY

Published
Meinrad Maria Grewenig & Eberhard Rist (eds), Buddha: 2000 Years of Buddhist Art, 232 Masterpieces, Völklingen, 2016, p. 474, no. 210.

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

Provenance
Private European Collection

Representing the Seventh Karmapa, Chodrag Gyatso (1454–1506), this figure holds the mudra indicative of one's bodhisattva commitment. The Karmapa wears the black hat emblematic of his office as the leader of the Karma Kagyu order. A great deal of attention has been given to Chodrag Gyatso's robes, which are embellished with incised floral and cloud patterns, and an impressively weighted outer cloak which hangs off the back of the lama's shoulders, illuminating a thick hem with circular medallions and vertical pleats.

By the 13th century, religious communities in Tibet sought to create patterns of succession whereby charismatic leaders would transfer their office and wealth to the next generation, thus maintaining firm economic, social, and political foundations for their institutions. The Karma Kagyu may have been the first to initiate a mode of institutional succession based on reincarnation. This ensured political continuity and eliminated the debilitating sibling rivalry that inevitably plagued biological succession. Ultimately, this facilitated a, "transition from charisma of person to a charisma of office" (T.V. Wylie, "Reincarnation: A Political Innovation in Tibetan Buddhism", Proceedings of the Coma de Koros Memorial Symposium, ed. Louis Ligeti, Budapest, 1978: 579-86, p. 584).

The figure's softly portrayed facial features parallel others from the Kagyu tradition of the same period including examples of the First and Sixth Shamarpa (Bonhams, Hong Kong, 5 October 2020, lots 15 and 18), the Fourth Shamarpa from the Claude de Marteau Collection (Bonhams, Paris, 12 June 2023, lot 35), and one of an identified Karmapa (Bonhams, Hong Kong, 30 November 2022, lot 1029).

銅鎏金七世噶瑪巴確札嘉措像
西藏 十六世紀/十七世紀早期

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474，編號210

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

此尊莊嚴而寧靜的造像呈現七世噶瑪巴確札嘉措（1454–1506），其手印獨特，表徵菩薩之發願。噶瑪巴戴黑帽，象徵其為噶瑪噶舉內之領袖地位。確札嘉措之袍服在此得到極為細緻呈現，刻以精巧花樣以及雲紋。而自其背後可見一件頗為厚重之垂落於肩下，寬大衣領上刻團紋，並表現以垂直褶皺，十分富麗。

至十三世紀，西藏的宗教社群尋求創建一種繼承模式，使得卓有聲望之領袖得以將其職位與財富交予下一代，從而穩固其體系之堅實的經濟、社會與政治基礎。噶瑪噶舉或許是第一個以轉世為基礎而建立傳承模式之派系。此舉確保了政治之連續性，並消除了血緣繼承所不可避免的手足相憎、相殘。最終，這促成了一種「將人之個體魅力轉化為一個傳承所固有之魅力」（見T.V. Wylie，〈Reincarnation：A Political Innovation in Tibetan Buddhism〉，《Proceedings of the Coma de Koros Memorial Symposium》，Louis Ligeti 編，布達佩斯，1978年，頁584）。

造像所呈現的柔和的面部特徵，與同一時期噶舉傳承中的其他造像十分相似，例如一世及六世夏瑪巴像（邦瀚斯，香港，2020年10月5日，拍品15及18），來自克勞德 · 德 · 馬圖收藏之四世夏瑪巴像（邦瀚斯，巴黎，2023年6月12日，拍品35），以及另一尊身份未定之噶瑪巴像（邦瀚斯，香港，2022年11月30日，拍品1029）。