十三至十四世紀 西藏銅錯銀及紅銅不動明王立像

喜瑪拉雅藝術資源網編號68452

阿什莫林博物館，牛津，1996-2005年借展
《The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection》，阿什莫林博物館，牛津，1999年10-12月
《Arte Buddhista Tibetana: Dei e Demoni dell’ Himalaya》，Palazzo Bricherasio，都靈，2004年6-9月
魯賓藝術博物館，紐約，2005-2017年借展
《Casting the Divine: Sculptures of the Nyingjei Lam Collection》，魯賓藝術博物館，紐約，2012-2013年

David Weldon 及 Jane Casey Singer，《The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection》，倫敦，1999年，圖版17
Franco Ricca，《Arte Buddhista Tibetana: Dei e Demoni dell’ Himalaya》，都靈，2004年，圖31
《Casting the Divine: Sculptures of the Nyingjei Lam Collection》，魯賓藝術博物館，紐約，2012-2013年，頁33

There is a minor chip to the tip of the snake and edge of the top know of hair below the sword. Other general surface wear, denting and minor bruises to the extremities. The original consecration paint is preserved intact.
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This large and iconic bronze figure depicting Achala, the wrathful manifestation of Manjushri, communicates a fearsome sense of monumentality. In the Buddhist pantheon, the role of fierce dharmapala Achala, the Immovable, is to eliminate obstacles in the mind of a practitioner and to protect the mind from negative forces.

In this large rendering, Achala bites his lower lip in a ferocious grimace, exposing sharp fangs. His bulging, bloodshot eyes stare in opposite directions, the right eye looking up and the left eye looking down. In each hand he grasps ritual weapons, the krodha (sword) and pasha (noose), and his body is adorned with cobras encircling the head, chest, wrists and ankles. A small figure of Akshobya adorns the flaming tresses of Achala, identifying the two deities as members of the same Buddha family. 

A number of early Tibetan images of Achala has been recorded in Tibetan monastery collections that follow the iconographic pattern of the current work, see Ulrich von Schroeder, Buddhist sculptures in Tibet, Hong Kong, 2001, vol. II, pp. 1112-1113, cat. nos 291A-E. in particular, compare the exaggerated features of the current work, including the large flaming tresses; the disproportionate head almost equal in size to the torso; and the high, double-petal lotus base to another thirteen century bronze figure of Achala, see ibid., cat. no. 291D.

Also compare the pinwheel pattern on the dhoti of Achala with an identical dhoti pattern on an early thirteenth century kesi depicting Achala in the Potala Palace, see V. Reynolds, et al., On the Path to the Void: Buddhist Art in the Tibetan Realm, Mumbai, 1996, pp. 252-3, fig. 8. For a full discussion on the role of Achala in the Buddhist pantheon, see Rob Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities in Early Indo-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhist Art, Boston, 1999.