尺寸：高29.1cm
年代：14世纪
质地：铜鎏金
风格：尼泊尔 马拉王朝
来源：拍卖会
成交：17,500,000港元(2017.10)
参阅：香港苏富比
鉴赏：

说明: 喜玛拉雅艺术资源网编号13435
古比特佛像网, 编号: 文殊菩萨050
来源：1954-1965年间尼泊尔国王马亨德拉．比尔．比克拉姆．沙阿（1955-1970年在位）赠予加拿大大使切斯特郎宁（1894-1984年），后于家族传承

文殊菩萨坐像，神情安祥慈悲，姿态优雅动人，尽显尼泊尔造像工艺之精粹，出自加拿大驻印度与尼泊尔大使切斯特郎宁（1894-1984年）旧藏，乃1954年至1965年郎宁大使出使期间，尼泊尔国王马亨德拉．比尔．比克拉姆．沙阿（1955-1970年在位）赠予之礼。

此像造形成熟流丽，反映当时加德满都谷地的纽瓦尔工匠铸造工艺已臻高绝。鎏金厚实，缀多样宝石及彩料，宽额低发际，宽厚肩膛，白毫嵌长方绿松石，姿态动感自然，璎珞华贵，属古典纽瓦尔风格。松石镶嵌甚是富丽，发梢仍见蓝彩残迹，或为西藏供养人委造。

比较一件十四世纪纽瓦尔造文殊菩萨像，发丝层迭蜷曲、松石镶嵌颈饰、嵌料腰饰、飘带飞舞之姿及脚趾描写，均甚相近此例，应亦为西藏所造，见 Helmut Uhlig，《On the Path to Enlightenment: The Berti Aschmann Foundation of Tibetan Art at the Museum Rietberg》，苏黎世，1995年，页113，编号64（图一）。并参考鲁宾艺术博物馆藏一件十四世纪之观世音菩萨像，编号C2005.16.8，三叶冠造形与宝石镶嵌风格，与此像相类。

尼泊尔地区加德满都河谷的纽瓦尔（Newar）艺术家们的超凡技艺，众所周知。1260年，蒙古皇帝忽必烈（1215-1294年）任命萨迦班智达（1182-1251年）在西藏的萨迦寺院建造一座舍利纪念塔。八思巴（1235-1280年）是萨迦传承的领导者，也是忽必烈的国师，由他召集了八十位尼泊尔最优秀的艺术家来完成这项任务。拥有早慧天赋的阿尼哥（Aniko，1244-1306年）是其中的领导者，集建筑师、织品家、画家与雕塑家于一身，这让赞助者八思巴印象深刻，并将阿尼哥的才华引荐给忽必烈。皇帝热烈地接受了阿尼哥，并擢升要职。在诸多荣誉之中，阿尼哥曾被任命为「诸色人匠总管」来管理不同种族的艺术工匠。之后阿尼哥任「大司徒」之职掌管教化部门，并且负责帝国的铸造工程，控管宫中珍贵资源的供应，如黄金、珍珠、犀牛角等等。依据蒙古王朝宫廷的官方记载，有关阿尼哥的个人传记描述，许多的纪念碑、佛像、绘画、织品都是出自于他的设计。请参考 Karmay (Stoddard)，《Early Sino-Tibetan Art》，沃明斯特，1975年，页21-4。阿尼哥在宫中获得财利荣禄。当时与阿尼哥一起进入蒙古宫廷总共有二十四位纽瓦尔艺匠，他们开创了尼泊尔艺匠于中国宫廷御作坊内工作的先河，并且延续了数个世纪之久。元朝之时，藏传金刚乘佛教乃其国教，工匠对喜马拉雅佛教圣像的熟识与掌握，加上其名闻天下的技艺，让他们成造合符统治者艺术传统的佳品。

元代中原艺术作品，显现尼泊尔地区的影响，如一尊弗利尔美术馆典藏的元代夹纻干漆菩萨坐像，细部可以明显看出纽瓦尔风格，出处同上，页22，图版11。另一件御制大威德金刚曼荼罗唐卡，以受蒙古朝廷青睐之缂丝制作，显现萨迦寺院的西藏绘画上所见之纽瓦尔艺术风格，参考屈志仁及 Ann E. Wardwell，《When Silk was Gold》，纽约，1997年，编号25。还有一件元缂丝曼荼罗，富典型青绿山水风格，却并饰尼泊尔式卷曲花蔓纹，出处同上，编号26。这三件作品无疑均为揉合了尼泊尔元素的汉式作品。此文殊坐像保存了十四世纪纽瓦尔地区的雕塑美感，其典雅的身形以及丰富的鎏金宝石镶嵌，再加上充满灵性的特质，呈现出尼泊尔地区的流行风格，很有可能是由纽瓦尔地区或西藏地区的供养人委托制作的。想必这种佛像正正就是八思巴受忽必烈所托为萨迦寺院寻觅的类型，也是阿尼哥在故乡熟识的风格。此类超絶技艺闻名于纽瓦尔地区工匠，名声传遍整个喜马拉雅区域，以及元明清三朝宫廷。这尊坐像乃十四世纪尼泊尔式佛像精品之一，见证了艺匠的卓越不凡、鬼斧神工。

郎宁大使为传教士之子，出生于中国，精通中文，为加拿大著名之中国事务专家。1966年为美越关系和平谈判，曾秘访越南河内，1971年受封加国头等最高荣誉勋章及埃布尔达省最高荣誉。其生平传记，见 Brian L. Evans，《The Remarkable Chester Ronning: Proud Son of China》，埃布尔达，2013年，及 Audrey Ronning Topping 与 Lawrence R. Sullivan，《China Mission: A Personal History from the Last Imperial Dynasty to the People's Republic》，巴顿鲁治，2013年。

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A MAGNIFICENT LARGE GILT-COPPER FIGURE OF MANJUSHRI
NEPAL, MALLA PERIOD, 14TH CENTURY
seated in vajraparyankasana, the right hand raised and holding a khadga or sword behind the head, the left held in kartarimudra, with beaded and inlaid jewellery including necklaces, armbands and bracelets, the face with a serene countenance and accentuated with a downcast gaze and gentle smile, below a rectangular turquoise-inlaid urna, framed by a low hairline of tufted curls along the forehead below an ornamental crown and a pair of pendulous earlobes adorned with inlaid earrings partially concealing the long tresses of hair cascading down the shoulders, the dynamic torso further adorned with a flowing sash and clad in garments falling in pleats, traces of polychromy in the hair
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 13435

Provenance
Gifted by the King of Nepal, HM Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah, to the Canadian Ambassador HE Chester A. Ronning, 1954-1965, and thence by descent.

Catalogue Note
The Prince of Transcendent Wisdom

Originally gifted to the late Canadian Ambassador to India and Nepal, HE Chester A. Ronning by the King of Nepal, HM Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah during his years of service between 1954-1965, this magnificent figure of Manjushri encapsulates the greatest achievements of Nepalese metalwork.

This bold, powerful, solidly-cast gilt copper figure is a remarkable testament to the skill and craftsmanship of the Newar ateliers of the Kathmandu Valley. The bodhisattva demonstrates classical Newar style with its use of luxuriant gilding and decorative stone and glass lozenge inlay, and exhibits many of the hallmarks of the derigueur Nepalese style with low hairline and broad forehead; wide almond-shaped eyes; the elegant facial profile with curved nose; the rectangular turquoise-inlaid urna; powerful shoulders; dynamic movement and posture; and elaborate beaded jewellery and tassels. Due to the liberal use of turquoise, as well as the remnants of blue polychromy in the hair, it is probable that this figure was commissioned for a Tibetan patron.

Compare the pattern and movement of the cascading tendrils; turquoise-inlaid necklace; the girdle with copper and inlaid glass lozenges, secured with flowing sash; and the delicately articulated and splayed toes with another Newar fourteenth century gilt copper figure depicting Manjushri, also probably made for the Tibetan market, see Helmut Uhlig, On the Path to Enlightenment: The Berti Aschmann Foundation of Tibetan Art at the Museum Rietberg, Zurich, 1995, p. 113, cat. no. 64. Compare also the stone-inlay design and scrolling motif in the triple-leaf crown, as well as the glass-inlaid jewel finial with another fourteenth century gilt copper figure of Avalokiteshvara in the Rubin Museum of Art, see acc. no. C2005.16.8.

The prowess of the Newar artists of Nepal's Kathmandu Valley was internationally recognised. In 1260 the Mongol emperor Khubilai Khan (1215-1294) commissioned a memorial stupa to Sakya Pandita (1182-1251) to be erected at Sakya monastery in Tibet. Phagspa (1235-1280), the Sakya hierarch and Khubilai's imperial preceptor, summoned a group of some eighty of the best artists in Nepal to fulfil the charge. Aniko (1244-1306), the group's leader, was a precocious talent as an architect, weaver, painter and sculptor, and so impressed his sponsor that Phagspa recommended his talents to Khubilai. Aniko was embraced by the emperor and rapidly elevated to prestigious posts. Amongst many honours he was appointed Supervisor-in-chief of All Classes of Artisans, and later Minister of Education in charge of the Imperial Manufactories Commission, responsible for the court's supply of precious materials such as gold, pearls and rhinoceros horn. Official documents of the Mongol dynasty record Aniko's biography, and describe monuments, Buddhist sculpture, painting and textiles made to his design, see Karmay (Stoddard), Early Sino-Tibetan Art, Warminster, 1975, pp. 21-24. He was awarded great wealth and status at court.

Aniko's arrival at the Mongol court with twenty-four fellow Newars established a Nepalese presence in the Chinese imperial workshops that would last for centuries. They brought an invaluable familiarity with Himalayan Buddhist iconography when Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism became the state religion of the Yuan dynasty, and a renowned ability to adapt to the artistic traditions of a sponsor. Yuan period Chinese works of art that reveal Nepalese influence include a statue of a bodhisattva in the Freer Gallery that is a done in the uniquely Chinese medium of dry lacquer, but with pronounced Newar style in the sculptural detail, ibid., p. 22, pl. 11. An imperial Vajrabhairava mandala in kesi, a favoured medium of the Mongol court, is drawn in the Newar style seen in Tibetan paintings associated with Sakya monastery, see James Watt and Ann E. Wardwell, When Silk was Gold, New York, 1997, cat. no. 25. And another Yuan period kesi mandala integrates pure Nepalese scrolling vine motifs with landscape done in the classical Chinese blue-green style; ibid., cat. no. 26. All three works of art are unmistakeably Chinese while subtly incorporating Nepalese characteristics. The Manjushri meanwhile exemplifies the indigenous Newar sculptural aesthetic of the fourteenth century: a sculpture made for Newar or Tibetan patrons in the prevailing Nepalese style of elegantly modelled, richly gilded and bejewelled statues imbued with spirituality. Indeed the type of sculpture with which Aniko would have been familiar in his homeland, and that Phagspa would have sought to fulfil Khubilai's commission at Sakya monastery. This divine statue remains one of the finest examples of fourteenth century Nepalese sculpture, and a document to the artistic genius that brought renown to Newar artists throughout the Himalayas, and at the imperial courts of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.

Born in China of missionary parents and fluent in Chinese, Mr. Ronning was widely regarded as Canada's leading expert on China. Mr. Ronning carried out a confidential mission to Hanoi in 1966 in an attempt to get peace talks going between the United States and North Vietnam. Mr. Ronning was made a Companion of the Order of Canada, the country's highest honor, in 1971 and was awarded the Order of Excellence from Alberta in February. For further biographical information, see Brian L. Evans, The Remarkable Chester Ronning: Proud Son of China, Alberta, 2013 and also Audrey Ronning Topping and Lawrence R. Sullivan, China Mission: A Personal History from the Last Imperial Dynasty to the People's Republic, Baton Rouge, 2013.