A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF CHAKRASAMVARA


CENTRAL TIBET, 15TH CENTURYHimalayan Art Resources item no.33006 10 in. (25.4 cm) high
|藏中 十五世紀 銅鎏金勝樂金剛像 This masterfully cast sculpture portrays twelve-armed Chakrasamvara and his consort Vajravarahi in ecstatic embrace, a complex meditational image that only the best artists could deliver. Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi's coupled pose (yab-yum) expresses one of the most important transcendental ideals in Buddhist art – the supreme bliss of enlightenment attained through the perfect union of Wisdom (Vajravarahi) and Compassion (Chakrasamvara). Chakrasamvara crosses the vajra and ghanta in his primary hands, producing vajrahumkara mudra. The attributes in his other hands are creatively modeled, including an axe with curved shaft, Brahma's head with twisted locks, and the curved knife, detailed with a chased rim. Almost tucked out of view, his upper thighs are clad in intricate textiles. All jewelry elements – his crown, arm bands and bracelets – are confidently chased and embellished with inset turquoise. The artist spared no effort in his depiction of Vajravarahi as well. She wears the panchamudra, or 'five ornaments', worn by females of the highest yoga tantra. Appearing above garlands of skulls and severed heads, her meticulously executed apron with interlaced floral medallions and ghanta is mesmerizing. The sculpture is executed in one of the refined styles developed by master artists of Tibet's renaissance in the 15th century. The sculpture's jewelry, crowns, and facial types compares favorably to a competing style newly identified as the atelier of Sonam Gyaltsen, active in Shigaste in the second quarter of the 15th century. (See, for example, the Sonam Gyaltsen Avalokiteshvara and Mahachakravajrapani sold at Bonhams, New York, 19 March 2018, lots 3033 & 3034.) The present sculpture's apron, long beaded festoons with circular pendants, crown type, broad faces, and knitted brows are closely related to two 15th-century Chinese silk images of Chakrasamvara in the Potala Palace (HAR 101608) and the Hung Collection (HAR 90916). Provenance Christie's, London, 6 May 1975, lot 50 Phillip Goldman Collection, 1975-2002 Sotheby's, New York, 21 March 2002, lot 161 Private Wisconsin Collection