An extraordinary gilt-bronze figure of Hayagriva, Densatil monastery, Tibet, 14th century | 十四世紀 藏傳丹薩替寺鎏金銅馬頭金剛立像

Galerie Deydier, Paris, 6th December 1994.

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戴克成藝廊，巴黎，1994年12月6日

Compare the alternating lapis and tinted crystal rhombus-shaped inset gems of the crown band, physiognomic details, and the rounded sculptural forms of the Shri Devi at Asia Society, New York, the Mahakala in the Pritzker Collection, and the Jambhala in a private collection, for which Jean-Luc Estournel suggests a date of circa 1386 in “About the 18 stupas and other treasures once at the Densatil monastery”, asian art.com, 2020, figs. 152-54. And compare the athletic posture and rounded forms of a fourteenth century Densatil Parnashavari, ibid., fig. 102.

The winged Heruka Hayagriva is rarely portrayed in this period, and this gilt bronze appears to be one of only two examples discovered so far than can be associated with Densatil monastery. A rare fragmentary thirteenth century Hayagriva with iconographic similarities has been identified as being from the earliest stages of the monastery’s development, ibid., fig. 33.

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本尊六臂馬頭金剛，背飾翅膀，左持微型金剛杵，右飾迦嘍羅，三張臉上各有馬頭，頭冠鑲嵌寶石羅，身飾蛇形手鐲，頭尾相纏之蛇形鍊墜於腹部。著虎皮褲，虎爪繫腰、右腿繫虎頭，左腿繫虎尾，以右展立姿，一腳踩納迦蛇，站於蓮花座上。其背部帶有一塊完整的祭祀牌，下方可見有榫頭殘跡，其作為固定於吉祥多門佛塔指定位置之用。

無論是冠飾鑲嵌青金石及菱形水晶色水晶、造像相貌細節或其他潤雕造型，本馬頭金剛立像可與亞洲協會之吉祥天母、普利茲克收藏之大黑天及某私人收藏之五姓財神比較，見Jean-Luc Estournel，〈關於丹薩替寺十八座佛塔及珍寶〉，asianart.com，2020年，圖152至154。文中作者將此類造像斷代為1386年。再比一尊十四世紀丹薩寺替代佛衣佛母，其具動感姿態和圓潤外形極與本品為相似，同上，圖102。

飾有翅膀之馬頭金剛像在此段期間十分罕見，至今公認來自丹薩替寺鎏金銅馬頭金剛像僅止於兩尊。另有一件十三世紀馬頭金剛殘件造型與之相似，其已被確認為來自丹薩替寺初期發展階段，十分稀罕，同上，圖33。