TIBET, CIRCA 17TH CENTURY Himalayan Art Resources item no.68462 23.7 cm (9 3/8 in.) highFootnotes西藏 約十七世紀 銅鎏金彌勒像 Published: David Weldon and Jane Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, London, 1999, pp.120-21. Pl.27. David Weldon, "Tibetan Sculpture Inspired by Earlier Foreign Sculptural Styles", The Tibet Journal, Vol.27, No.1/2, 2002, pp.11&13, figs.3&6. Exhibited: The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 6 October – 30 December 1999. Arte Buddhista Tibetana: Dei e Demoni dell'Himalaya, Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin, 18 June – 19 September 2004. Casting the Divine: Sculptures of the Nyingjei Lam Collection, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2 March 2012 – 11 February 2013. Provenance: The Nyingjei Lam Collection On loan to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1996-2005 On loan to the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2005-2021 Identified by the miniature stupa in front of his ushnisha, this handsome figure represents Maitreya, whose name derives from the Sanskrit word maitri, meaning 'benevolence' or 'loving kindness'. He is worshiped as both a bodhisattva in the present and the Buddha of the Future. According to the Buddhist worldview, our world degenerates and rejuvenates in a cyclical manner. Succeeding Shakyamuni (the present Buddha), Maitreya will arrive during a state of chaos and moral decline to reintroduce Buddhist teachings to humankind. Here, Maitreya is shown in monastic robes, with his hands in the gesture of furthering the Dharma, indicating his role as a teaching Buddha in Ketumati, the earthly paradise where he will reside upon descending from Tushita Heaven. After his arrival, the world will eventually become a blissful place, free of crime, evil, famine, and sickness. This bronze image is closely related to three other sculptures from a Confession Buddha set of almost identical size, including a Shuradatta at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Pal, Art of Nepal, 1985, p.117, no.S38), a Suvikranta sold at Sotheby's, New York, 16 March 2016, lot 726, and a third Confession Buddha sold at Sotheby's, New York, 24 September 1997, lot 94, all with identifying Tibetan inscriptions at the back of their cushions. These four figures are incredibly similar in physiognomy, sharing slopped shoulders, narrow waists, and robust, rounded limbs. Their robes are also rendered in identical fashion, especially the layering of thin garments, indicated by a densely striped hem on top of a plain one, as well as the naturalistic fan-shaped pleats gathered in front of their legs. Although the cushion below Maitreya is slightly thinner than in the other three examples, there is little doubt that these four bronzes were created by the same workshop. As a central subject, the Maitreya is of superior quality, with more sensitive modeling of his face, a better proportioned dome, and a remarkably sweet, tiny stupa in his hair. The artist(s) must have been aware of the early Nepalese style of the Licchavi period (400-750 CE), itself influenced by Gupta (320-600 CE) images from Sarnath, India. The connection is evident when comparing the present Maitreya with a 7th-century Nepalese figure of Buddha Shakyamuni at the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth (AP 1979.01). Both faces feature broad foreheads, beaked noses, protruding lower lips, and dainty chins. Maitreya's diaphanous robe, with parallel lines draping across his svelte body, also echoes the Licchavi Buddha. Also notable is the webbing between the fingers. Although webbed fingers are often present in Licchavi Buddha images, they are rarely seen in later Nepalese or Tibetan bronzes (for a more detailed discussion on the sculpture's reference to Licchavi models, see Weldon & Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet, 1999, p.120). A gilt bronze figure of Amoghasiddhi is also clearly of a later period reviving the Licchavi aesthetic with similar physiognomy and webbed fingers, but slightly different robe treatment (Russek, Novel Art: Far Eastern Antiquities, Zurich, 1992). While inspired by the sculptural traditions of India and Nepal, this bronze group was probably commissioned by Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Shigatse, Tibet, which is the traditional monastic seat of the Panchen Lama, the Gelug order's second-in-command. When discussing a group of 'Tashilima' bronzes formerly in the Getty Collection, Luo Wenhua concluded that the type of base plate engraved with a visvavajra and painted with cold gold is diagnostic of either Tibetan bronzes made in Tashikitsel (the workshop of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery) or Khalkha Mongolian bronzes (see Luo, 'Tashi Lhunpo Statuary: Karma and Mt Meru', in Bonhams, Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 26 November 2019). Although this Maitreya did not survive with its original base plate, the Suvikranta from this group features the type described by Luo, who further observes that Tashikitsel had frequent, long-term exchanges with workshops in Nepal in the 17th century. Therefore, the base plate of the Suvikranta image, the Tibetan inscriptions included on the Confession Buddha figures, and the strong Nepalese influence seen across this group, all point to a strong association with the important Gelug monastery of Tashi Lhunpo.