A GILT COPPER SHRINE TO SHRIKANTHA KAMAKALA

NEPAL, DATED 1818

Footnotes

This shrine invokes a rarely found form of the Hindu god Shiva named Shrikantha, or 'the one with the beautiful throat'. He dances with his consort Guhyakali, their bodies combined, forming a 'kamakala' image in Nepal. Cosmic and tantric motifs weave throughout the sculpture, adorning the deities with many heads and arms, permeating it with fierce and erotic symbolism, and the convergence of elements.

Shiva is a powerful, unpredictable god of paradoxes. Here the encircling skulls around his mandorla, his many weapons, and the prone figures crushed underfoot evoke his role as the Lord of Destruction engaged in a cosmic dance that both creates and destroys worlds. But he is not the source of his own power, rather it his consort Guhyakali – the ultimate goddess – who he dances with in perfect interpenetrative union.

The five figures seated on the base in between the divine couple and their bull and lion mounts personify the five elements in Hindu cosmology: earth, fire, water, air, and space. At the same time, they remind us of the five activities of Shiva's cosmic dance: of creation, preservation, destruction, illusion, and emancipation.

From the extensive inscription featured across the base it is clear that the deity also served in a tutelary capacity, protecting the devotees that commissioned the sculpture:

"In the year of 938 [Samvat] (1818 CE), on the second day of the dark half of the Vaishakha month, Anuradha nashatra, Friday, Bhaju Dham, Baju Narasim, and Tejanaram commissioned and perfected this image of their tutelary deities (Siva and his consort). Two priests Kureshvara and Acarya consecrated the image. Jasadhana was in charge of all these activities."

We are grateful to Dr. Gautama Vajracharya for his assistance with the translation.

In subject matter and composition, the present lot compares favorably to the best-known direct comparisons. One is held in the Fine Arts Museum, Boston (acc.#25.481), the other published in Pal, Nepal: Where the Gods are Young, New York, 1975, no.68. Meanwhile another dated shrine image of Sukhavati Lokeshvara produced within the same month as the present lot is held in The Newark Museum, published in Reynolds, Tibetan Collection: III/Sculpture and Painting, New Jersey, 1986, pp.121-2, no.S45.

Provenance
Private English Collection

銅鎏金濕婆雙身神龕
尼泊爾，據銘文1818 年
底座刻有尼泊爾文銘文，記述其創作時間為薩姆瓦特 938 年（公元 1818 年）。
喜馬拉雅藝術資源網2139號
高 40.3 釐米 （15 7/8 英寸）

600,000 - 800,000 港元

此尊造像刻畫一極為少見的印度教濕婆形像，名為"Shrikantha"，意為"美妙歌喉之神"。他與明妃古雅伽黎女神共舞，雙身結合，構成尼泊爾的"雙身"形像。此尊造像處處體現密宗特點，本尊多頭多臂，充斥激烈情欲之像征意義，且體現了多種元素之融合。

濕婆法力強大、深不可測，其形像亦含矛盾之處；既是模範父親，又是沒有家庭羈絆的模範苦行者。其背光內緣所環繞之頭骨、其諸多武器以及被其踩在腳下的人物，皆表現出濕婆作為毀滅之王、於輕歌曼舞間創造與毀滅世界之力量。然而其強大法力並非來源於其自身，而是其明妃終極女神古雅伽黎，兩位共舞之間成為互相依存之完美組合。

主尊與其公牛和獅子坐騎之間的底座上刻有五人像，分別為印度教宇宙哲學中五元素之化身：土、火、水、氣和空。同時，此五像亦喚起人們對濕婆宇宙之舞中五種意像的記憶：創造、保留、毀滅、幻想與解脫。

從底座上的大段銘文可清楚看出，此尊神明亦擁有保護神之法力，以保護此像之供養人：

"[薩姆瓦特] 938 年（公元 1818 年），吠舍佉月黑分第二天，Anurāḍhā nakṣatra，周五，Bhāju Dham、Bhāju Narasim 和 Tejanārām 委托制作並完善了此尊保護神（濕婆及其明妃）造像。Kureśvara 和 Acārya 兩位法師為其開光。Jasadhana 負責所有此些事宜。"

謹在此特別鳴謝 Guatama Vajracharya 博士協助翻譯此處銘文。

此拍品勝於所有已知與其在主題與構造方面可比之作品，其中一尊保存於波士頓美術館（館藏號 25.481），另一尊出版於Pal，Nepal: Where the Gods are Young，紐約，1975 年，68 號。而與此拍品同月創作的一尊帶銘文極樂世界觀音像現藏於紐瓦克博物館中，參見Reynolds，Tibetan Collection: III/Sculpture and Painting，新澤西州，1986 年，頁 121-122，S45 號。

來源
英國私人收藏