A rare and important copper-alloy figure of Vajrasattva Central Tibet, ca. 13th century | 西藏中部 約十三世紀 合金銅金剛薩埵坐像

Joe Gelpey, London.

Mrs Kemper, London.

Marcel Nies, Belgium.

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Joe Gelpey, 倫敦

Kemper女士, 倫敦

Marcel Nies, 比利時

Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, pp. 189, pl. 38E, Private Collection London

Jan van Alphen, Cast for Eternity : Bronze Masterworks from India and the Himalayas in Belgium and Dutch Collections, Antwerp, 2004, pp. 156-57.

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施羅德著，《Indo-Tibetan Bronzes》，香港1981年, 頁189，圖38E

Jan van Alphen博士，《Cast for Eternity : Bronze Masterworks from India and the Himalayas in Belgium and Dutch Collections》，安特衛普，2004年，頁156-157，編號48。

Often thought to have a western Tibetan origin, this type of early Tibetan sculpture is more likely to be from the central regions where the primary stylistic influence up to around the fourteenth century was the art of eastern India in the Pala period (8th-12th c). Features in the Pala idiom include the silver inlaid eyes, the elaborate beaded necklace with gem-set pendants, and fishtail crown- and belt-ties. Tibetan bronzes with Pala influence are mostly un-gilded, like the majority of their Indian antecedents: Tibetan sculpture after the fourteenth century is increasingly modelled and gilded in the Nepalese manner. Pala influenced sculpture, like the Vajrasattva, was popular in Tibet from around the twelfth through the fourteenth century, about the same time period that strong eastern Indian influence is seen in Tibetan painting: compare the powerful modelling and the long necklace with gem-set pendants seen in numerous Indian influenced Tibetan Tathagata thangkas, for example see Kossak and Casey Singer, Sacred Visions: Early Paintings from Central Tibet, New York, 1999, pls. 23a-c.

Vajrasattva is identified by the bell (ghanta) in the left hand: a diamond sceptre (vajra) is now missing from the raised right hand. The popular deity is associated with purification rites in Tibetan Buddhist practice.

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普遍認爲，如本像之早期西藏作例源於西藏西部地區，但其實此類造像則更可能來自西藏中部，後者風格源自帕拉時期（公元 8-12 世紀）東印度藝術，直至十四世紀左右爲止。帕拉造像，雙目嵌銀，纓絡滿綴，頂冠華美 ，珠寶華帶。帕拉風格銅像依隨東印度原型風格，大多不帶鎏金，而十四世紀之後，西藏佛像開始以尼泊爾鎏金造像為模。如本金剛薩埵之帕拉風格造像流行於西藏十二至十四世紀，同期間，西藏畫像亦見東印度風格影響，比較印度風格西藏如來唐卡，造型威嚴，長項鏈綴寳石，參考Kossak and Casey Singer，《Sacred Visions: Early Paintings from Central Tibet》，紐約，1999，圖版23a-c。

此像手持金剛鈴，故可辨認為金剛薩埵像，唯缺金剛橛。藏傳佛教認爲金剛薩埵乃淨化業障之本尊。