A silver-inlaid gilt-copper alloy figure of Krishna Yamari, Tibet, circa 11th century

David Weldon and Jane Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, London, 1999, pl. 12.

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1996–2005 (on loan).

The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1999.

Arte Buddhista Tibetana: Dei e Demoni dell' Himalaya, Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin, 2004, cat. no. IV. 13.

Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2005–2018 (on loan).

Casting the Divine: Sculptures of the Nyingjei Lam Collection, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2012–13.

The deity is depicted as a wrathful four-armed manifestation of the bodhisattva Manjushri holding a sword in the raised right hand (the blade now missing), and with the forefinger of his left hand extended in a threatening gesture (tarjani mudra). The peaceful head of Manjushri with his idiosyncratic braided locks (trisikha) appears above the three wrathful faces. The skull crowns of the three krodha heads and the long skull garland are inlaid with silver. The deity wears a flayed tiger skin dhoti, snake jewelry and a sacred cord (yajnopavita) in the form of a serpent draped over the shoulder and tied at his waist, its head entwined with its tail. Attributes from two of the hands were probably separately cast and are now missing, as is the statue’s original pedestal making a firm iconographic attribution uncertain. However, an eastern Indian medieval period clay tsa-tsa depicts a multi-armed Krishna Yamari standing on a buffalo, also holding a sword in one of his right hands, the left in tarjani mudra and with a peaceful face above the wrathful heads resembling the head on this figure, see Jeff Watt, Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 9255, perhaps a related iconographic form of this figure.

Compare also the Nepalese style and iconographic posture of an early gilt-copper wrathful manifestation of Manjushri now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, see Pratapaditya Pal, The Sensuous Immortals, Los Angeles, 1997, p. 168, cat. no. 97, that has been identified by Watt as Achala, ibid., item no. 86503. Like the Metropolitan bronze, this wrathful figure has close stylistic parallels to Nepalese sculpture but with significant differences to traditional Kathmandu Valley works, suggesting a Tibetan provenance. While the peaceful head of Manjushri with a single crown panel is quintessentially Nepalese in style, see for example an eleventh century bronze Maitreya in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in Pratapaditya Pal, Art of Nepal, Los Angeles, 1985, p. 100, cat. no. S20, the silver embellishment of the crown and skull garland is a strong indication of a Tibetan provenance: silver inlay does not feature on indigenous Newar gilt-copper statues. Compare also an early Nepalese style gilt-copper Vajrahumkara in the Nyingjei Lam Collection that has a Tibetan inscription incised on the tang beneath the left foot confirming a Tibetan provenance, see David Weldon and Jane Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, London, 1999, pl. 10. This rare and dynamic figure belongs to an important group of early tantric gilt-copper statues made for Tibetan patrons, most probably cast by itinerant Nepalese artists.

此尊為文殊師利菩薩四臂忿怒相化現，一右手高舉執寶劍（劍鋒現已缺失），一左手食指結期克印，三面忿怒相之上為文殊菩薩寂靜相，髮髻典型。三面忿怒相所戴骷髏頭冠及骷髏瓔珞為錯銀。腰穿虎皮，身佩蛇飾，由肩及腰穿戴蛇形淨繩，蛇首蛇尾纏繞。文殊有二臂原持法器，法器應單獨鑄造，現已缺失，底座情況同此，故圖像風格難考。然可比一印度東部同時期陶土擦擦，塑黑閻摩敵，多面多臂，腳踏水牛，一右手亦執寶劍，一左手結期克印，忿怒相上有一寂靜相，與此尊頗似，見傑夫·瓦特，《Himalayan Art Resources》，編號9255，或為此尊相關聯形象。

亦比一尊早期銅鎏金文殊菩薩忿怒相化現像，其尼泊爾風格及站立體式與此尊相類，藏大都會藝術博物館，錄Pratapaditya Pal，《The Sensuous Immortals》，洛杉磯，1997年，頁168，編號97，傑夫·瓦特將其斷為不動明王阿遮羅，出處同前，編號86503。恰如大都會所藏例，此尊忿怒文殊像緊隨尼泊爾造像風格，但與加德滿都谷地所出亦有明顯不同，可知其西藏源流。文殊寂靜相單一頂髻為典型尼泊爾風格，比一尊十一世紀彌勒菩薩像，藏洛杉磯郡立藝術館，錄Pratapaditya Pal，《Art of Nepal》，洛杉磯，1985年，頁100，編號S20，其錯銀寶冠及骷髏瓔珞展現強烈西藏風格，因尼瓦爾本土所造銅鎏金像不以錯銀為飾。另比一尊早期尼泊爾風格銅鎏金金剛哞迦邏像，菩薩道收藏，左腳下方帶藏語銘文，可知西藏源流，見David Weldon及Casey Singer，《Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection》，圖版10。此尊珍罕，靈動如生，乃早期密宗銅鎏金造像一組之一，極有可能由尼泊爾雲遊藝匠為西藏供養人所造。