A gilt-bronze figure of Shakyamuni Buddha Mark and period of Yongle | 明永樂 鎏金銅釋迦牟尼佛坐像 《大明永樂年施》款

The historical Shakyamuni Buddha is envisaged in this statue seated in vajraparyankasana at Bodh Gaya in eastern India, having vowed to remain in meditation to penetrate the mystery of samsara. He was interrupted by the demon hordes of Mara, the 'lord of the senses'. The Buddha overcame their attempts at seduction and distraction, and in defiance moved his right hand from the meditation position to touch the ground before him. The gesture, bhumishparsha mudra, signifies the moment of triumph over Mara in calling the earth spirit to witness his claim to enlightenment.

This classic iconography of Shakyamuni Buddha is famously represented in two complete Yongle altar shrines, one in the British Museum, illustrated in Wladimir Zwalf, ed., Buddhism: Art and Faith, London, 1985, cat. no. 305, and the other from the Speelman Collection, sold in these rooms, 7th October 2006, lot 808. Yongle reign-marked images of Shakyamuni Buddha in this smaller scale are relatively rare. Only one was recorded in Ulrich von Schroeder's survey of Tibetan monastery collections, preserved in the Potala Palace, illustrated in Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Hong Kong, 2001, vol. II, pl. 358A; another, with the reign mark erased, is now in a private collection, Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, pl. 146D.

A larger (21 cm) but closely related Yongle gilt-bronze Shakyamuni, also from the Tuyet Nguyet and Stephen Markbreiter collection, was sold in these rooms, 7th October 2010, lot 2142, and another example sold in these rooms, 3rd October 2017, lot 3143.

Other Yongle reign-marked gilt-bronze figures of Shakyamuni include one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Splendors from the Yongle (1403-1424) and Xuande (1426-1435) Reigns of China's Ming Dynasty, Beijing, 2010, p. 244, pl. 118, and the large example (55 cm) sold in these rooms, 8th October 2013, lot 3075.

本釋迦牟尼像採全跏坐姿。據載為參透輪迴，釋迦牟尼於東印度菩提伽耶冥想入定，立意不悟道不離座。期間欲界天魔摩羅試圖擾阻之，釋迦牟尼對脅迫誘惑不為所動，右手下垂作觸地印，號召大地證明釋迦修成佛道之事蹟，觸地印因而成為紀念佛祖降魔得道之手印。

連臺座背光之釋迦牟尼像乃經典造型，可參考兩尊著名永樂年作例，其一藏於大英博物館，載於Wladimir Zwalf 編，《Buddhism: Art and Faith》，倫敦，1985年，編號305，另一例乃史博曼舊藏，售於香港蘇富比2006年10月7日，編號808。如本像尺寸較小、並帶永樂款之釋迦牟尼像相當罕見，烏爾里希·馮·施羅德對貯藏西藏廟宇的佛像研究中僅記載一例。該例現存布達拉宮，載於《西藏佛教雕塑》，香港，2001年，卷2，圖版358A。另一例屬私人收藏，年款遭抹除，見烏爾里希·馮·施羅德，《Indo-Tibetan Bronzes》，香港，1981年，圖版146D。

再參考一較大（21公分高）永樂鎏金銅釋迦牟尼像，亦出自雪月及Stephen Markbreiter收藏，售於香港蘇富比2010年10月7日，編號2142。此外並有一例，售於香港蘇富比2017年10月3日，編號 3143。

另比一例，典型永樂佛像，現藏北京故宮博物院，參考《明永樂宣德文物圖典》，北京，2010年，頁244，圖118；尚有一例，編織龐大，55公分高，售於香港蘇富比2013年10月8日，編號3075。