A magnificent large gilt copper alloy figure of Shakyamuni Buddha, Central Tibet, 14th century

American Private Collection, prior to 1980.

Kreitman Gallery, Los Angeles, 1980.

Dutch Private Collection, acquired in 1988.

Nik Douglas, The Enlightened ones in Sacred Buddhist Art, Kreitman Gallery, Los Angeles, 1980, cat. no. 35.

Hugo Kreijger, Godenbeelden uit Tibet, Den Haag, 1989, p. 51.

This fine and large fire-gilded bronze depicts Maravijaya Buddha with his left hand resting in the meditative pose and the right reaching forward in the earth-touching gesture (bhumisparsa mudra), capturing the moment Shakyamuni summoned the earth to witness his divine right to enlightenment. The Buddha is seated in the yogic posture (vajraparyankasana) on a separately cast double lotus pedestal which incorporates the fan of the Buddha’s robe as it spreads onto the seat before him.

A number of large circa 14th century gilt bronze figures of seated deities at Shalu monastery in the Shigatse province of Central Tibet is cast in sections and separate from their lotus pedestals, in similar style to this Buddha: cf. the physiognomy with prominent lower lip and protruding chin of a gilt bronze Maitreya, in von Schroeder, Buddhist Bronzes in Tibet, Hong Kong, 2001, vol. II, pl. 230C; and compare the design of the separately cast lotus pedestal of a large gilt Manjughosha, ibid., 229C, and the similar ‘rice grain’ elliptical decoration on the hems of Manjughosha’s dhoti, typical of 13th and 14th century central Tibetan sculpture. A large 14th century Maravijaya Buddha is cast in a similarly robust Nepalese style, with broad shoulders and narrow waist, ibid, pl. 231A.

Another Buddha at Shalu, dating to the 15th century, has floral decoration on the robe and the separately cast pedestal has wider more rounded lotus petals, ibid, pl. 229B, confirming the earlier date of the present example with its typical 14th century characteristics.

Shalu was founded in 1040 by Chetsun Sherab Jungnay in a valley a short distance from Shigatse. Kunzang Dragpa Gyaltsen enlarged the monastery and commissioned wall paintings and sculpture in the early 14th century at the suggestion of Buton Rimpoche (1290-1364). Shalu became an important center of the Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism renowned for its transcendental instruction and scholarly learning. Many of the temple statues currently in the monastery collection are likely to be those commissioned by Dragpa Gyaltsen in the 14th century, being similar in style to the famous wall paintings. The Nepalese style wall paintings and sculpture at Shalu are considered to be amongst the finest surviving examples in Tibet. With similarities to the sculpture at Shalu, this large, finely cast and gilded Buddha may have also been commissioned for a monastery in the Shigatse region, and cast by one of the many itinerant Newar artists from the Kathmandu Valley working in Tibet in the fourteenth century.