佛像鉴定鉴赏收藏

尺寸：高17.7cm
年代：明代 宣德
质地：铜鎏金
风格：宣德宫廷
来源：拍卖会
成交：4,220,000港元(2010.05)
参阅：香港佳士得
鉴赏：
金姿宝相
苏玫瑰 - 国际亚洲艺术部学术总监

此尊神态安祥庄严的无量寿佛像是宣德朝鎏金铜佛像中罕见的杰作。许多学者和鉴赏家认为在十五世纪初期宫廷鎏金铜佛造像工艺已达最高的水平，永宣宫廷造像在中国历史上制作最为精美。虽然永宣两朝宫廷造像工艺相当，但传世品中宣德朝造像比永乐朝造像要少得多，而在少如凤毛麟角宣德朝佛像中，如此尊尺寸之大者，甚为珍罕。

此尊佛像展现了藏汉文化艺术交流、融会工艺的最高境界。在蒙古征服中国之前后，藏传佛教已在中国普及并成为国教。明太祖朱元璋未即帝位以前和佛教有一段很深的因缘，十七岁曾在皇觉寺出家为沙弥，八年后还俗。直到建立明朝登上帝位后，对佛教采取保护政策，他不欲再唐代时西藏与中原政权发生的冲突历史重演，固差遣特使入藏邀请噶玛巴到南京再授封。这很可能令当时的燕王朱棣，将来的永乐皇帝在洪武十三年（1380年）赴封国北平时接触到藏传佛教，并产生了极大的兴趣，成为他终生的信仰。永乐皇帝在位期间，皇家作坊制作了许多精致考究、以藏传佛教为题材的工艺品，其数量除了清乾隆朝外为中国历朝之冠。许多西藏活佛喇嘛应永乐帝之邀进宫，并互赠贵重的礼物，甚至回到西藏，仍然有交换礼物的习惯。

宣德年间大量西藏喇嘛驻京城寺庙中，至正统时期，其中691人被遣送回西藏。宣德九年（即1434年）宣德皇帝迎请释迦也失进京，并封为“万行妙明真如上胜清净般若弘照普慧辅国显教至善大慈法王西天正党如来自在大圆通佛”。当他离京返回西藏时，宣德皇帝赐予他两幅西藏曼达拉式的织绣肖像。在宣德朝官方档案中，赏赐的礼物很少提及有佛像赐给西藏或来访的喇嘛，而西藏藏宣德朝佛像极少，由此可见宣德赏赐予西藏的佛像，远少于永乐时期。 此尊制作精美的，尺寸较大量寿佛坐像，应为朝廷赏赐予西藏高僧的礼物，并在皇室中已被供奉。苏黎世莱特博格博物馆（ Rietberg Museum of Zurich）藏两尊带尺寸较小、带宣德款的鎏金佛像，一为文殊菩萨坐像（图一），一为半跪菩萨像，（见 1995年出版《On the Path to Enlightenment - The Berti Aschmann Foundation of Tibetan Art at the Museum Rietberg Zürich》图版68、72）。其中半跪菩萨像的面相被认为是照皇室人员的样子而作。 无量寿佛是长寿、功德和智慧之佛，“Amita”意思为“无量”，“ayus”意思为“寿”。佛以双手仰放下腹前，结禅定印，是佛入于禅定时所结的手印。有的无量寿佛手托长寿宝瓶，瓶内盛“amrita”，译为“不死灵药”。密教则以阿弥陀佛之应化身为无量光佛，其报身为无量寿佛。无量寿佛的装饰通常为简单的僧袍，没有璎珞和宝冠或如本尊头戴五叶宝冠。赫尔穆特•吴黎熙认为永宣两朝的佛像多头戴五叶宝冠，佩饰璎珞，环钏，装饰华丽。他在《On the Path to Enlightenment - The Berti Aschmann Foundation of Tibetan Art at the Museum Rietberg Zürich》第18页中说：“他们显示了宫廷的辉煌，同时也表现了皇室的宗教信仰、与佛之间的紧密关系。”此尊代表长寿、功德和智慧的无量寿佛座像应为宣德皇帝或其它皇室成员的庆典，如贺寿而特别制造。极有可能是献给宣德帝的生母张氏，在宣德在位其间给了他极大的支持。

著录: 古比特佛像网, 编号: 金刚萨埵:金刚萨埵075

A RARE EARLY MING GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF VAJRASATTVA
XUANDE INCISED SIX-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1426-1435)
Finely cast seated in dhyanasana on a double lotus base with left hand holding a ghanta at the waist, the right hand raised in karanamudra and holding an upright vajra, the deity wearing a long, flowing shawl exposing the elaborately jewelled necklace above the bejewelled dhoti tied at the waist, the elongated earlobes pendent with large earrings on either side of the serene face, the hair pulled up into a high coiffure with two long braids, surmounted by a lotus bud behind the tiered jewelled crown, the base inscribed with Daming Xuande Nianshi, 'Bestowed in the Xuande period of the Great Ming Dynasty'
7 in. (17.7 cm.) high

Lot Essay

Vajrasattva, whose name translates as 'Adamantine Being', is also known as the Buddha of Purification, and is one of the most important deities in the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon. Vajrasattva's attributes, the vajra and ghanta, symbolising compassion and wisdom, but also the male and female aspects, are held at the chest and waist, and corresponding to tantric method, the deity is shown holding the vajra in the right hand, and the ghanta in the left.

During the Yuan Dynasty in the 13th and 14th centuries, the authority of Mongol rulers had become closely associated with Tibetan Buddhist or Lamaist rituals. At the beginning of the 15th century, the Buddhist fervour of the Ming court encouraged a cultural exchange between Tibet and China through Imperial patronage. Bronze sculptures in the Tibeto-Chinese style were first produced during the reign of Emperor Yongle (1403-1424) and are highly distinguished for their unsurpassed craftsmanship, overall refinement and gracefulness. Emperor Yongle (1403-25), a devout Buddhist himself, bestowed generous patronage to Buddhist monasteries and artistic ateliers, fostering the production of artworks depicting Tibetan Buddhist deities and imagery in a highly refined style, executed with the highest level of technical mastery. Gilt bronzes were commissioned from the Imperial workshops in Beijing for personal religious practices and as gifts for the many Tibetan emissaries invited to the court.

Relatively fewer examples bearing the reign mark of the following period, Xuande, exist and the present example is stylistically very closely related to its Yongle predecessors. See the essay for lot 1959 for more details on the production of gilt bronze buddhist images during the Xuande reign. The present figure would have been made at the Imperial ateliers in Beijing, most probably during the early phase of the period by the same craftsmen who continued their work from the Yongle period.

The current example is one of the more elaborately decorated and finely cast, with delicate features and a strong sense of movement that give the figure its life-like quality. Compare a very closely related figure of Vajrasattva bearing the Yongle reign mark, of almost the same size and similar treatment of the drapery, sold at Christie's New York, 17 September 2008, lot 587. Compare an example in the Berti Aschmann Collection, illustrated by H. Uhlig, On the Path to Enlightenment, Museum Reitberg Zurich, 1995, cat. no. 22. See, also, a slightly larger (20.6 cm. high) Yongle-marked gilt-bronze figure of Vajrasattva illustrated in Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1995, no. 61. Another similar, though larger (24.2 cm. high) example, was sold at Christie's New York, 22 March 2000, lot 96.