A large inscribed gilt copper alloy figure of Shakyamuni Buddha, Tibet, circa 15th century

Acquired in Hong Kong, late 1990s.

Colorado Private Collection.

The reverse of the base on this finely cast gilt figure of Shakyamuni Buddha is intricately inscribed with an extensive inscription:

ཚངས་དབང་གཙུག་གི་ནོར་བུས་ལེགས་མཆོང་པ།།

གང་གི་ཞབས་པད་འཁོར་ལོའི་རི་མོ་དང་།།

ཀུན་ནས་དད་པའི་འོད་ཀྱི་དྲ་བས་མཛེས།།

ཐུབ་དབང་མི་ཡི་མཆོག་ཁྱོད་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ༎

Tshangs dBang gtsug gi nor bus legs mchong pa//

Gang gi zhabs pad ’khor lo’i ri mo dang//

Kun nas dad pa’i od kyi dra bas mdzes //

Thub dbang mi yi mchog khyod phyag ’tshal lo //

The Jewel of your uṣṇīṣa is worshipped favorably by Brahmā and Indra.

The soles of your lotus feet are (adorned) by the drawings of the Wheel (of Dharma).

Embellished by the garlands of light of devotion from all directions,

Before you, Lord of sages supreme among men, I bow.

This very fine and large-scale sculpture of Buddha Shakyamuni is a testament to the powerful legacy of the Newari aesthetic imported into Tibet from the Kathmandu Valley in the medieval period. Displaying tremendous power and presence, this figure demonstrates the marriage of classical Nepalese and Tibetan sculptural elements in its luxuriant gilding, elegant beading and engraving, and the cold gilding of the face.

This powerful and iconic bronze depicting Buddha Shakyamuni in the earth-touching gesture or bhumisparsha mudra recalls the moment of his Enlightenment, in which he called upon the earth as his witness. The Nepalese influence is strongly demonstrated in the wide forehead with straight hairline, the gilt and domed ushnisha, the urna with cavity for stone inlay, the short neck, the broad and muscular shoulders with torso narrowing to a defined waist.

The base of this Shakyamuni Buddha was made in two parts with a flange hammered over inside the base to connect the two sections, a feature is considered to have developed from the end of the 16th century. Compare a closely related gilt Buddha of similar size and form illustrated in Ulrich von Schroder, Indo Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, pl. 103C. The bases has a similar step along the lower rim, with the improvisation of floral decoration on the hem. The present bronze is stylistically similar to others dated as early as the 14th century. See, for instance, the crowned Maitreya at Shalu Monastery, also created by a Newar craftsman, illustrated in Ulrich vin Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Hong Kong, 2001, Vol. II, pl. 230C.