Mark Rasmussen
International Director
Lot 7
A copper alloy figure of Padmapani Western Tibet, 11th/12th century
Withdrawn
Amended
18 September 2013, 10:00 EDT
New YorkUS$30,000 - US$50,000
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A copper alloy figure of Padmapani
Western Tibet, 11th/12th century
Standing in tribhangha pose with his right hand raised in abhaya mudra and the left holding a lotus stem, dressed in a dhoti incised with linear and roundel designs tied at his muscular waist and with a central pleat falling between the legs, adorned with a heart-shaped pendant at the center of a beaded necklace and a complete garland hanging from his shoulders down to his knees, his face with lips of inlaid copper and eyes of inlaid silver surmounted by a triple-leaf crown with side ribbons and blossoms.
12 in. (30.5 cm) high
Standing in tribhangha pose with his right hand raised in abhaya mudra and the left holding a lotus stem, dressed in a dhoti incised with linear and roundel designs tied at his muscular waist and with a central pleat falling between the legs, adorned with a heart-shaped pendant at the center of a beaded necklace and a complete garland hanging from his shoulders down to his knees, his face with lips of inlaid copper and eyes of inlaid silver surmounted by a triple-leaf crown with side ribbons and blossoms.
12 in. (30.5 cm) high
Footnotes
Emerging from the highly refined classic models of 10th and 11th century Kashmir, the cult of Avalokitesvara was paramount in the Western Tibetan regions of Guge, Tsaparang, and Toling. In the 11th and 12th century the figures became more attenuated and details of the dhoti more simplified as seen in another example in the Brooklyn Museum of Art (78.256.4).
The absence of the typical elements associated with Padmapani; a Buddha image in the crown or headdress and an antelope skin across his shoulder, are not unusual in sculpture of this period and the broader region. For an example in the Asia Society (1979.45), see Reedy, Himalayan Bronzes: Technology, Style and Choices, Newark, 1997, no. W126, and for another in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.75.4.1) see Beguin, Dieux et Demons de l'Himalaya, Paris, 1977, no 41.
Provenance:
Private New York Collection
Acquired in Detroit in the early 1960s
Saleroom notices
Please note this item has been withdrawn.