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11. Buddha Sakyamuni Tibet ca. 1200 CE Bronze, with traces of gilding and blue pigment height 55,5 cm |
This captivating bronze figure embodies Buddha Shakyamuni and represents the 11th- 12th century period when Indian monks and adherents of Buddhism in the wider northeastern region moved towards Tibet. The Buddha is seated in vajraparyanka-asana, literary the sitting posture, asana, that depicts a couch, paryanka, designed like a thunderbolt, vajra. Both feet are resting on the thighs with the soles turned upward. His right hand is suspended from the right shin and touching the basis with the middle finger. This gesture or mudra is called bhumisparsha, touching the ground. It symbolizes the moment when the Buddha called Mother Earth to witness his victory over the demon Mara, who had attempted to dissuade him. The mudra denotes also the moment of Buddha’s enlightenment at Bodhgaya. In Mahayana Buddhism, this bhumisparsha mudra is dedicated to the transcendental Buddha Akshobhya, the ‘imperturbable one’, usually with the vajra laying in front of him. But this is not the case here, hence it is Sakyamuni. The Buddha’s left hand is placed on his heals, palm upward, showing the meditation gesture. The chakras are displayed on his right sole and left palm. He is wearing a tight-fitting diaphanous sanghati covering only the left shoulder and pulled tightly around his left arm. It has finely decorated hems with meandering scroll patterns. His robe is draped over the legs fanning out centrally on the seat in front of the shins. The end of a broad shawl hangs over his left shoulder, cascading down and ending in two tips, forming a fishtail. The rest of the shawl billows under his left arm behind the left thigh. His oval face with square jaws is marked by a pronounced chin. The tight lips with delineated edges produce a subtle smile. He has an aquiline nose that gives rise to two arched eyebrows. His downcast half-open eyes with distinct pupils have the typical and elegant wavy double lines defining the eyes. A projecting urna is carefully centered between the two eyebrows. The whole composition produces a very serene air, framed at the sides by two pendulous earlobes. His hair extends in tight small snail-curls over the head, covering the cylindrical ushnisa, which is surmounted by a lotus bud. The hair is still (ritually) coloured with blue pigment. Certain details about this bronze are noteworthy. The fleshy soles and toes and the realistic hands with clearly outlined fingernails are typical for the period. There is an additionally decorated hem along the left arm’s bicep, an element that originated probably from Pala painting precedents, just like the fanning fishtail on the shoulder, though the Tibetan variants are bigger and more prominent. The billowing of the shawl under the left arm is a new element in this period. Some scholars suggest influences from the early Nepalese Khasa Malla style on this particular type of Tibetan bronzes. These Tibetan images, however, show a much more close-fitting garment, a slender waist and slightly abstracted face, compared to the Khasa Malla sculptures. The Tibetan craftsmen adapted the Pala and Nepalese elements to produce their own original style in this period with very attractive and original Buddha images as a result. Provenance: Private collection, Milan, Italy. According to the previous Italian collector, the bronze was in the collection of Professor Giuseppe Tucci (1894-1984), Italy. Private collection, Paris, France. Literature: R.E. Fisher, Art of Tibet, London, 1997, p.34. U. Von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, vol.II, Tibet & China, Hong Kong, 2001, pls.294, 307 and 308E. J.C. Huntington and D. Bangdel, The Circle of Bliss, Buddhist Meditational Art, Ohio, 2003, pp.62-63, fig.2. |