Beschreibung:

A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF AKSHOBHYAVAJRA GUHYASAMAJATIBET, 15TH/16TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 4900
28 cm (11 in.) high Footnotes西藏 十五/十六世紀 銅鎏金密集不動金剛像
Published:
Arman Neven, Le tantrisme dans l'art et la pensée, Bruxelles, 1974, p. 76, no. 386.
Exhibited:
Le tantrisme dans l'art et la pensée, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Bruxelles, 7 March - 10 April 1974.
Provenance:
With Claude de Marteau, Brussels, by 1970s
Akshobhyavajra Guhyasamaja is a subject central to Tibetan Buddhism's promise of a swift and complete enlightenment. Two sublime beings—male and female—are shown in ecstatic sexual embrace, signifying the transcendental state of Buddhahood that one achieves through the completion of tantric instruction. Guhyasamaja's physical union emerges within a divine atmosphere of silk garments and jeweled ornaments, conceived during a period of cultural splendor between the 15th and 16th centuries referred to as the Tibetan Renaissance. This 'quantum explosion', in which the epicenter was located in Central Tibet, included the cultivation of scholastic philosophy, spiritual attainment, and figurative arts, all of which are visually expressed in this crowning deity of tantric achievement (Thurman & Rhie, Worlds of Transformation, 1999, p. 31).
Hailed the 'King of Tantras' in Tibet, the Guhyasamaja Tantra, of which this sculpture represents its personified form, was likely composed in India between 750 and 850 CE before its translation into Chinese and Tibetan in the 11th century. It is considered the first tantra to be revealed from a divine source, as well as a fundamental text among Anuttarayoga Tantras. Guhyasamaja, which translates in Sanskrit to Secret Assembly, is understood to mean, 'an assembly of hidden factors that bring us to enlightenment', and hermeneutic systems surrounding this tantra underwent development between the 14th and 15th centuries. One contemporaneous record includes commentaries by the Gelug founder Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), who codified systems to bridge root texts to tantric practice.
In all the related practices, the creation of celestial mandalas or 'assembly' includes a central meditational deity (yidam) and its surrounding retinue deities. In the form of Akshobhyavajra and his consort Sparshavajra combined, the yidam Guhyasamaja represents the hidden essence of Akshobhya Buddha, the central Presiding Buddha of the Five Directions oriented within the mandala's inner sanctum. The other Presiding Buddhas are also represented by their signature implements within the present sculpture's radiating hands, namely Vairocana's wheel, Amitabha's lotus, Ratnasambhava's gem, and Amoghasiddhi's sword. Thus, while it is quite likely that this representation of Guhyasamaja sat at the center of an entourage of retinue figures, several of which are known from the 15th/16th centuries, the sculpture's symbolism of the Five Presiding Buddhas makes an abbreviated reference to the surrounding mandala contained within its own iconography.
The inspired composition of yab yum images, symbolizing the enlightened integration of wisdom and compassion through the metaphor of 'mother-father' deities in sexual congress, are emblematic of the religion's distinctive character and material culture. Yab yum iconography is frequently deployed to depict yidams, like Guhyasamaja, which are the highest class of deities in tantric Buddhism. Other popular yidams include Chakrasamvara, Vajrabhairava, Hevajra, and Kalachakra. These yidams and their retinue within a surrounding mandala are the highest class of tantric teachings called the 'Unsurpassed Yoga Tantras' (Anuttarayoga Tantra). "A growing spiritually educated population began to use systematically the refined Tantric meditational techniques of prolonged visualization retreats and sustained visionary experiences. They began to achieve powerful, world-transforming results on a wider and wider scale. The release of positive energy by their enlightenments naturally became the basis of a widespread artistic renaissance, as artists of liberated creativity were moved to articulate their visions to a wider world." (ibid, 1999, p. 36.)
The sculpture's modeling of lithe limbs, tall, pointed crown, lobed arm bands, plump lotus petals, and punctuated turquoise insets arising out of lotus buds all follow in the sculptural conventions of Central Tibet during the 15th century. The frequently referenced Shigatse atelier of the artist Sonam Gyaltsen (c. 1430), for which defining features include incised decorations, inset turquoise, and softened hairlines play writ large into details of this bronze and another bearing the same subject (HAR 8050). Towering crowns of lobed pendants flanking a central rosette, elaborating each of the figure's three heads, characterizes several other bronzes including a figure of Manjushri sold at Sotheby's, New York, 25 March 1999, lot 116, and a painting of Guhyasamaja in the Gyanste Kumbum (HAR 42947). Close comparison of the distinctive double-ridged lotus can be found in images of Guhyasamaja and Hevajra in the Essen Collection (see von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, 1981, p. 121, nos. 121B-C).
These examples point to a stylistic transformation away from lightly clad, imposing figures in favor of refined vestiture and more delicate features during the 15th century in Tibet. This transition is primarily attributed to exposure to Chinese artistic sensibilities through diplomatic gifts. Sent by the emperors of the early Ming dynasty to leading Tibetan monasteries and ruling families, these generous bestowals included sculptures, paintings, and textiles produced in the imperial workshops. Echoes of these exchanges are evident in the U-shaped folds across the legs, the scrolling patterns of the robes, and tendrils of the lotus leaves along the base of the sculpture, finding parallels with another 15th century gilt bronze of Guhyasamaja published in, Buddha: 2000 Years of Buddhist Art, 2016, pp. 448-9, no. 197.