Mark Rasmussen
International Director
Lot 30
A gilt copper alloy figure of Lobzang Gyatso Tibet, 18th century
18 September 2013, 10:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$206,500 inc. premium
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A gilt copper alloy figure of Lobzang Gyatso
Tibet, 18th century
Finely cast, seated on a double cushion and wearing a patchwork robe with possibly the hilt of his purba extending from the fold behind his right hand in the gesture of teaching, a heavy outer robe draped over his shoulders and pooling sumptuously over his legs, his portrait with a broad nose, prominent ears, steadfast expression, and traces of polychromy for his eyes and hair.
4 5/8 in. (11.7 cm) high
Finely cast, seated on a double cushion and wearing a patchwork robe with possibly the hilt of his purba extending from the fold behind his right hand in the gesture of teaching, a heavy outer robe draped over his shoulders and pooling sumptuously over his legs, his portrait with a broad nose, prominent ears, steadfast expression, and traces of polychromy for his eyes and hair.
4 5/8 in. (11.7 cm) high
Footnotes
The suggested presence of the projecting purba is consistent with other inscribed portraits of the Great Fifth Dalai Lama, see Rhie and Thurman, Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, New York, 1996, p. 272, no. 98. The other earlier portrait with his right hand in the earth-touching pose is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, see Pal, Lamaist Art: The Aesthetics of Harmony, Boston, 1975, no. 54.
The naturalist rendering of his robes and the intact gilded consecration plate bearing a finely incised visvajra are indicative of master craftsmen associated with Tashi Lhunpo, see Liu I-se, Tibetan Buddhist Art (Hsi-tsang Fo - Chiao I-shu), Beijing, 1957, figs. 76 & 78.
Lobzang Gyatso (1617-82 CE) is central figure to both Kagyu and Nyingma orders. Strife between aristocratic factions was reconciled under his reign and he began construction of the infamous Potala Palace in Lhasa in 1645.
Provenance:
Private New England Collection, acquired in 1970s