A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF KUNZANG GYALWA DUPA


TIBET, CIRCA 14TH CENTURYHimalayan Art Resources item no.61925 6 1/4 in. (15.8 cm) high
|西藏 約十四世紀 銅鎏金貢桑嘉瓦堆巴像 This gilded sculpture depicts Kunzang Gyalwa Dupa, the 'All-good Collection of Conquerors', who represents the combined power of all Bon deities. The great Tibetan scholar, Sherap Gyaltsen (1356-1415), composed an invocation describing Kunzang Gyalwa Dupa. The present bronze's iconography matches his description, apart from not having the sun and moon disks held by his primary hands before his chest. However, paintings and sculptures of Kunzang Gyalwa Dupa often vary the treatment of his primary hands (cf. Per Kvaerne, The Bon Religion of Tibet, Boston, 1996, p.59, no.14; Sotheby's, New York, 22 March 2018, lot 953; and HAR 85587).