A finely cast gilt-copper seated figure of a Boddhisattva, Tibet, 17th or early 18th century | 十七世紀或十八世紀初 藏傳銅鎏金菩蕯坐像

This finely cast bodhisattva wears sumptuous adornments including an ornate diadem, each crown panel with a jewel motif (ratna) supported by lotus petals, an unusual floral garland around the neck and turquoise-inset jewellery. The right hand is modeled with thumb and forefinger together in the gesture of debate (vitarka mudra) and the left is holding a now missing flower stem, with separately cast flowers missing at each shoulder, and seated in regal posture (lalitasana) on a lotus pedestal. The figure is cast in one with the upper section of the pedestal and joined to the separately cast lower section.

The missing flowers at each shoulder would have borne the distinguishing attributes of the bodhisattva whose identify is thus unconfirmed. However, the regal posture, the lowered right hand and the left holding a flower stem, may indicate a form of Manjushri, cf. an eastern Indian Pala bronze figure in this iconographic posture with lowered right hand and a manuscript on the flower at the left shoulder, identified as Vāgīśvara-Mañjuśhrī by Gerd-Wolfgang Essen and Tsering Tashi Thingo in Die Götter des Himalaya: Buddhistische Kunst Tibets, Prestel-Verlag, 1989, p. 71, cat. I-34.

The artist was a Newar master or one skilled in the Nepalese sculptural traditions of the seventeenth and first half of the eighteenth century: compare the jewellery type and physiognomy of Nepalese gilt copper images of Tara dated 1644, and Shiva dated 1691, and the elaborate tips of lotus petals on the seat of a Nepalese gilt copper Amitabha dated 1722, see Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, pls. 103D, 103F, 107D.

This Nepalese sculptural style would influence works from Tashikitsel workshop associated with the Tibetan monastery of Tashilhunpo, Shigatse, such as the parcel-gilt silver Ushnishavijaya in the Speelman Collection, with similar stylistic elements to this bodhisattva, including jewellery and scarf type, physiognomy and lotus pedestal design, offered in Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris, 11th June, 2024, lot 8; and an Amitabha in the Palace Museum, see Luo Wenhua, “Happiness and Longevity of Sumeru: Tashilhunpo Monastery as a Palace of Arts and Culture”, in Arts of Asia, November-December 2020, pp. 46-7, figs 17-20. This fine and rare gilt copper bodhisattva may also have been made at this important artistic centre in Shigatse.

Compare also the modelling, simple jewel designs, the flourish of the scarf ends and the physiognomy of a late seventeenth century Nepalese style gilt copper Avalokiteshvara in Sotheby’s Paris, 12th June 2013, lot 157: and a remarkably similar gilt copper Green Tara, probably from the same workshop as this bodhisattva, with the unusual flower garland, related jewellery design, lotus pedestal style and physiognomy, at Sotheby’s New York, 20th March, 1997, lot 121.

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本尊造像莊嚴華麗，髮冠蓮花瓣上雕繪寶石圖紋（ratna），胸前佩戴花卉項鏈及綠松石鑲嵌的佩飾。右手拇指和食指相觸作安慰印（vitarka mudra），左手應持有花莖、 兩肩均佩飾花朵，以lalitasana姿勢端坐於蓮花座，造像與蓮花座上半部鑄為一體，再與底座下半部相連。

此尊造像兩肩花朵雖已缺失，但仍彰顯圖像學中菩薩的特徵。菩薩確切名稱尚未定論，然根據右手下垂、左手持花莖之姿態，可被視為文殊菩薩類型。可參閱Gerd-Wolfgang Essen 與Tsering Tashi Thingo著作中蒐錄之一尊東印度帕拉王朝銅像，同樣右手下垂，左肩的花上帶有經卷，被斷定為文殊菩薩。見《Die Götter des Himalaya: Buddhistische Kunst Tibets》，Prestel-Verlag，1989年，第71 頁，圖版I-34。

本尊佛像應由紐瓦族大師製作，或是十七世紀至十八世紀初尼泊爾工藝師，技術精湛。比較一尊1644 年鎏金銅白度母像和另一尊1691 年鎏金銅濕婆像，嵌寶技藝和雕塑造形極為相似。再比一例1722 年尼泊爾鎏金銅阿彌陀佛座上的蓮花瓣尖，見施羅德，《印度-西藏銅器》，香港，1981 年，圖版103Ｄ、103Ｆ、107Ｄ。

扎什吉彩(Tashikitsel)為西藏扎什倫布寺官屬作坊，其造像風格深受尼泊爾風格影響。見Speelman收藏中一尊銀局部鎏金及銅鎏金尊勝佛母像，其嵌飾珠寶、造像體態以及蓮花座設計均極為相似(巴黎邦漢斯，2024年6月)。另比一尊阿彌陀佛，藏於故宮博物院，見羅文華，〈扎什倫布寺，藝術及文化宮殿〉, 亞洲藝術11-12 月刊，2020 年，第46-7 頁，圖版17-20。本尊鎏金銅菩薩，精美罕見，極可能於製作於日喀則，一處重要的佛學藝術中心。 

參考一尊十七世紀末尼泊爾風格的鎏金銅觀音菩薩坐像，緞帶花案精美，造像相似但裝飾較為簡約，售於巴黎蘇富比，2013 年6 月12 日，編號157。另比一例鎏金銅綠度母，其花環、鑲嵌及蓮花底座風格與本尊十分相仿，有可能與本尊菩薩出自同一作坊。售於紐約蘇富比，1997 年3 月20 日，編號121。