A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF SACHEN KUNGA NYINGPO (1092-1158)

YONGLE PERIOD (1402-1424)

Footnotes

Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (1092-1158) was the son of the founder of Sakya monastery, Khon Konchok Gyelpo (c.1034–1102), and its third throne holder (Sakya tridzin). An emanation of Avalokiteshvara, he is celebrated as the first of the five supreme Sakya masters. At the age of twelve, Sachen, under the guidance of his guru, Bari Lotsawa, performed a six-month meditation on Manjushri culminating in the bodhisattva appearing before him and instructing him. Among Sachen's major contributions, he wrote down the vajra lines of Virupa, the core teachings of the lamdre tradition, which up until that point had been a closely guarded oral transmission of tenuous survival.

While not inscribed, the carefully painted face and characteristic hairstyle, identify the figure. Also Sachen Kunga Nyingpo is most commonly depicted with these mudras of a right hand showing the gesture of charity and the left holding a lotus stem. For a closely related thangka of the same period, depicting the same voluminous robes across his legs, see Himalayan Art Resources item no.944.

While examples in Tibetan styles are common, Tibetan historical figures produced in the Yongle imperial style are very rare. Early Ming Tibetan Buddhist sculpture predominately consists of buddhas and bodhisattvas. A presently unidentified portrait of a hierarch cast following a very similar early Ming style is stored in the northern section of the Red Palace, Lhasa, published in von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculpture in Tibet, Vol. II, Hong Kong, 2001, p.1084, fig.XVII-1, third from the bottom. Also compare with a related ungilded Tibetan portrait of Sachen Kunga Nyingpo preserved in the Ngor Ewam monastery with a similarly decorated face and treatment of the lotus petals (ibid., p.1213, no. 33D & 281A-334C).

Provenance
Private European Collection


銅鎏金薩欽貢噶寧波（1092-1158年）像
永樂年間（1402-1424年）
喜馬拉雅藝術資源網2151號
高15釐米（5 7/8英寸）

1,800,000-2,200,000 港元

薩欽貢噶寧波（1092-1158年），薩迦寺創始人昆貢卻傑波（約1034-1102年）之子，第三任薩迦法王，公認為觀世音菩薩之化身，是五位薩迦祖師之首。十二歲時，薩欽聽從其師巴日譯師指導，禪坐冥想六個月，最終得文殊菩薩現身傳法。薩欽貢獻良多，寫下毗魯巴金剛密續為其一，此乃道果法教義之精髓，以往只秘密口授，容易失傳。

此造像雖無銘文，但其細緻刻畫的臉龐與別具一格的髮型便可確定其身份。薩欽貢噶寧波最常見之形像，乃右手施予願印、左手持蓮莖。同一時期一相關唐卡亦描繪了他雙腿上之同款寬袍，參見喜馬拉雅藝術資源網944號。

雖然西藏風格的此類造像很常見，但明代永樂風格的西藏歷史人物造像卻非常稀罕。明初的藏傳佛教造像多以佛陀及菩薩為主。拉薩布達拉宮紅宮北殿亦有一尊身份未明的上師像，以相似的明初風格鑄造，參見馮·施羅德，西藏佛教造像，卷二，香港，2001年，頁1084，圖xvii-1，從下數第三。另參見供奉在鄂爾艾旺卻丹寺的薩欽貢噶寧波像，其飾臉與蓮瓣亦可與本拍品進行比照（同上，頁1213，33D及281A-334C號）。

來源
歐洲私人收藏