拍品描述:西藏 十五世纪 银局部鎏金密勒日巴像连铜鎏金莲花座 Himalayan Art Resources item no. 68492. HAR编号68492 the parcel-gilt silver and gilt-copper figure inscribed along the lotus petal base 'this silver image of Mila[repa], king of the sacred doctrine, was set up at Nyüg Peak by the monk Gagi Wangpo. Through this virtuous act may [all beings] who have been my mother realise the abiding nature of the mind, and may they achieve [the level of] Vajradhara, embodiment of the four Buddha bodies! May good auspices prevail!’ (chos kyi rgyal po mid le[la]’i dngul sku ‘di/ dge slong dga’ gis dbang pos smyug lar gzhengs// dge des mar gyur sems kyi gnas lugs rtogs// sku bzhi’i bdag nyid rdo rje ‘chang thob shog// mang ga lam//) inscribed on the baseplate 'Homage to the venerable Mila Zhepei Dorje! May my kind mother Sonam Zemo attain Buddhahood!’ (rje mid la gzhad pa rdo rje la na mo/ drin can gyi ma bsod nams bzad mo sngyas [sangs rgyas] thob par gyur cig/) For further information on the condition of this lot please contact Alexandra.Farahnik@sothebys.com Art of Tibet. Selected articles from Orientations, 1981-1997, Hong Kong, 1998, cover and back cover. David Weldon and Jane Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, London, 1999, pl. 43 and cover. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1996–2005 (on loan). The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1999. Arte Buddhista Tibetana: Dei e Demoni dell' Himalaya, Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin, 2004, cat. no. IV. 49. Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2005–2018 (on loan). Stable as a Mountain: Gurus in Himalayan Art, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2009. Lama, Patron, Artist: The Great Situ Panchen, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 2010. Casting the Divine: Sculptures of the Nyingjei Lam Collection, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2012–13. The World is Sound, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2017–2018. Masterworks: Jewels of the Collection, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2014–2015. Eternal Transience, Enlightened Wisdom – Masterpieces of Buddhist Art, University Museum and Art Gallery, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2022, pp 90-91. Milarepa (1040-1123) remains one of Tibet’s most charismatic saints, whose biography has inspired generations of devotees. Although he is progenitor of the Kagyu lineage, he is perceived by all orders of Tibetan Buddhism as the archetypal yogin and is held in the highest esteem for his heroic quest for knowledge. Milarepa gained little from his first Buddhist teacher who eventually referred him to a guru named Marpa (1012-1097) from Wheat Valley in Lhodrak. His trials while apprenticed to Marpa are legendary. It seemed to Milarepa that his new guru kept withholding his knowledge, so he left on numerous occasions only to return finding no satisfaction elsewhere. For his persistence he was finally granted the teachings he desperately sought, and henceforth praised his beloved guru Marpa in song and verse. Indeed, over a lifetime Milarepa is famously credited with composing one-hundred-thousand songs. Milarepa was renowned for wearing only a simple white cotton shawl, living as an ascetic oblivious to the cold. And that is how he is portrayed in this exceptional Tibetan statue, with the cotton shawl draped over the left shoulder revealing his meditation strap (yogapatta) slung across the body. The strap is parcel gilt in subtle contrast to the silver body. Milarepa’s face is painted gold according to Tibetan ritual practice with color highlighting eyes and mouth, the lips opened slightly as if in song. A tightly rolled prayer scroll is inserted in the left earlobe. Milarepa is seated on an antelope skin laid over the lotus pedestal. The richly gilded copper base is inscribed around the circular upper rim. The gilt-copper consecration sealing-plate beneath is intact, and beautifully engraved with a visvavajra and a further two-line inscription. This exquisite silver image and gilt copper pedestal are cast in a pure south central Tibetan style that is fully formed by the fifteenth century. Unmistakably Tibetan in its iconography and style, the sculpture nevertheless incorporates foreign sculptural traditions that have been absorbed by Tibetan artists and patrons over centuries. The color combination of silver figure on a gilded copper base is a sculptural device originating in eastern India during the Pala period (8th-12th century), seen in the silver Maitreya in the Cleveland Museum of Art (fig. 1), see Weldon and Casey Singer, David Weldon and Jane Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, London, 1999, figs. 15 and 16. Examples of this elegant and innovative Pala style were brought to Tibet where they served as inspiration to local artists. The style of the slim and elegant lotus petals on the gilt copper base are reminiscent of the smaller Yongle period (1403-1424) imperial bronzes bequeathed in large numbers to Tibetan hierarchs and monasteries, such as the four-armed Manjushri in the British Museum, see Heather Karmay, Early Sino-Tibetan Art, Warminster, 1975, p. 87, fig. 54, and another four-armed Manjushri sold in these rooms, 20th March 2018, lot 107, and now in the collection of Tsz Shan Monastery Buddhist Art Museum, Hong Kong, accession no. 2018.05 (fig. 2). Local artists would have been well aware of these treasures from China. Thus the diverse influences on a pure Tibetan sculptural style are evident in this silver masterpiece representing Tibet’s cultural hero, Milarepa. Having finally attained his long-sought goal of spiritual awakening after years of difficult apprenticeship with Marpa, Milarepa writes adoring praise of his master. In the words of the early twentieth-century Tibetan scholar Lama Kazi Dawa Samdup translating from the saint’s biography: ‘As for myself, I have not the means to recompense thee, my Guru and Reverend Mother [Damema, Marpa’s wife] — my benefactors; your loving kindness is beyond my power to repay by any offer of worldly wealth or riches. So, I will repay you by a lifelong devotion to meditation, and I will complete my final study of your Teachings in the “Og-min Heaven”,’ see Evans-Wentz, ed., Tibet’s Great Yogi Milarepa, London, 1928, R 1958, p. 143. Milarepa then recites a poem to his guru and his wife, referring to Marpa as Lord and as the great Dorje Chang (Vajradhara, the celestial progenitor of the Kagyu order), and to Damema as Mother of all Buddhas. To my Guru, the Great Dorje-Chang To Damema, the Mother of All Buddhas And to all Princes Royal, the Avataras I make as offering, to Their ears, this essence of my learning gleaned. If there be heresy or error in my speech I pray that They will kindly pardon it And set me then upon the Righteous Path. Lord, from the sun-orb of Thy Grace The radiant Rays of Light have shone And opened wide the petals of the Lotus of my Heart So that it breatheth forth the fragrance born of Knowledge For which I am forever bounden unto Thee; So will I worship Thee by constant meditation. Vouchsafe to bless me in mine efforts That good may come to every sentient being. Lastly, I ask forgiveness, too, for any lavishness of words. ibid At the end of this recitation, Milarepa notes ‘My Guru was delighted, and said, ‘My son, I had expected much from thee; my expectations have been fulfilled.” ibid., pp. 143-4. 密勒日巴（1040-1123年）生平斐然，福泽后世，乃西藏贤圣，既是噶举派一代宗师，也被藏传佛教各教派奉为始祖瑜伽士，因其锲而不舍求索妙法智慧而备受尊崇。密勒日巴能抗饥寒，虽身处藏地严冬，亦只需棉服一重，其修为广为传颂。此尊西藏造像所塑正是密勒日巴经典形象，棉服斜披左肩，冥想带悬于身前，冥想带局部鎏金，与银身交相辉映。密勒日巴面部漆金，眼、口以彩色突显，遵循西藏修行仪轨；嘴唇微张，如吟如唱。左耳内藏有发愿章句一函，封卷密实。莲花座敷羚羊皮，密勒日巴盘坐其上。铜底座鎏金富丽，上方边缘镌有铭文。鎏金铜底板完好如初，刻十字金刚杵及铭文两行。 此银像连鎏金铜座铸于西藏中南部，风格纯粹，十五世纪已成规制。形象及风格虽为西藏典型，毋庸置疑，然亦融入外来造像传统——由西藏匠人及供养人经数百年汲取而成。银身置于鎏金铜座，辉彩协调，乃溯至东印度帕拉王朝（8至12世纪），可比克利夫兰艺术博物馆所藏银身弥勒像（图一），见Weldon and Casey Singer，《The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection》，伦敦，1999年，页22-23，图15、16。此类帕拉风格新雅，传入西藏后对当地造匠影响深远。鎏金铜座莲瓣修长，与中土永乐朝（1403-1424年）御制造像神似；永乐造像更为精小，曾大量献入西藏，献诸高僧及寺院，如大英博物馆藏四臂文殊像，录Heather Karmay，《Early Sino-Tibetan Art》，沃敏斯特，1975年，页87，图54。当地造匠熟谙中土宝像，此尊西藏造银身密勒日巴像可谓集大成作。 绕座一周镌有铭文，大意「此银身密勒日巴法王像乃瑜山比丘阿格旺布修铸。愿所得功德回向三世吾母，皆得成正觉，获金刚持果位，受持四身！圆满吉祥」。 封底铭文大意「稽首密勒日巴尊者，唯愿吾母索南桑姆证得佛果。」 展开