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Lot 38
A VERY FINE GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF PADMASAMBHAVA
Estimated Value:
15.000 € - 25.000 €
Schätzpreis:
28.000 €
Description:
Tibet, 15th c.H. 16,4 cm
Seated in vajrasana on a lotus base with his right hand raised in front of his breast holding the vajra while his left rests on his lap supporting the kapala, a separate khatvanga placed against his left shoulder, clad in various garments, including wide-sleeved cloak, incised with a foliate design, his face displays a serene expression with open eyes below slightly arched eyebrows running into his nose-bridge, the pupils painted, red coloured lips, elongated earlobes with ear ornaments set with turquoise beads, his specific hat with upturned flaps and decorated with vishvavajra, half-moon and sun emblems, sealed.
South German private property, according to notes from an old European private collection, assembled in the 1980s
There are only few historically secured facts about Padmasambhava's life, his existence is shrouded in legends to a great extent. He grew up as a foster son of King Indrabhuti in what is now Pakistan. He is said, as recorded among other things in the seven-line prayer in the Ngöndro exercises of the Nyingma tradition, not to have been born of a woman, but to have been miraculously born on a lotus in a lake in Oddiyana. The land of Oddiyana, which can be traced by Buddhist scriptures, is now believed to be in the ancient region of Gandhara. Various sūtras of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni pointed to his coming, for example, the Nirvana Sutra, the Spotless Goddess Sutra, and the Sutra of Inconceivable Mysteries. Padmasambhava is considered an incarnation of the Buddha Amitabha, in whom the siddhis of all the Buddhas of all times manifested
Very minor wear to gilding
