Mongolia, Budai

Circa 18th century, Mongolia, Budai, brass, 19 cm, private collection, photo on Michael Backman

Often mistaken for a buddha (and nicknamed ‘The Happy Buddha’), Budai was a 10th century Zen master from China. Because of the bare chest and large belly, Hvashang, the patron of the arhats, is often confused with him (yet Hvashang holds different attributes and is always surrounded with children). One of these two sculptures depicts Budai with a thin object in his right hand and a rosary in the other, no moustache, and a flat cap. On the other, the implements are in reverse order, he has a thin moustache, and he wears a lotus hap topped with a lotus bud and decorated with a triple gem at the front.

Mongolia, seated buddhas (5)

18th century, Mongolia, school of Zanabazar, Amitabha, gilt copper alloy, 23 cm, private collection, Images of Devotion lot 1833, 1st December 2023, Bonhams (Hong Kong).

1600s, Mongolia, buddha (Amitabha), gilt bronze, photo by Daderot on wikimedia, exhibit at the Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury, Vermont (USA).

Once again, a photograph of a Buddhist sculpture most of us will never get to see, available thanks to the Wikimedia user ‘Daderot’ (thank you Daderot!).

18th century, Mongolia, Shakyamuni (labelled ‘Amitayus’), gilt bronze, 19 cm, private collection, Asian Arts lot 57, 12th December 2023, Sotheby’s (Paris).

18th century, Mongolia, Zanabazar school, the eight medicine buddhas (gilt copper alloy) and a separate Shakyamuni (parcel-gilt copper alloy, probably more recent), photo on HAR, at the Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan in Ulaan Baatar (Mongolia).

(Leaving aside the larger Shakyamuni in the middle, which doesn’t belong to the set) Bhaisajyaguru, the main medicine buddha, is in the right-hand corner, with his right hand extended to display an arura fruit – see close up on above link. Next to him, Shakyamuni makes the Earth-touching gesture, behind them Svaragosha Raja and Abhijna Raja both make the gesture of supreme generosity with their right hand; All four make the gesture of meditation with their left hand. On the other side, in the left-hand corner, Supari Kirtika Nama Shri Raja makes the fear-allaying gesture with his right hand and the gesture of meditation with the other. Next to him, Ashokottama Shri Raja has both hands in the gesture of meditation. Behind them, Survana Bhadra Vimala and Dharma Kirti Sagara Gosha both display the preaching gesture (dharmacakra mudra).

18th century, Mongolia, Vajrasattva, school of Zanabazar, photo on HAR, at the Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan in Ulaan Baatar (Mongolia).

18th century, Mongolia, Amitabha?, as before.

18th century, Mongolia, Amitabha?, as before.

18th century, Mongolia, Amitabha?, as before.

We saw this sculpture labelled ’18th century, Tibet, Vajradhara (in fact Vajrasattva), gilt copper and silver’ on Sotheby’s but it is labelled ‘Mongolia, Dolonnor style’ on HAR (with turquoise-inlaid jewellery) and elsewhere on HAR (with red and blue glass cabochons?). See also a gilt copper repoussé 18th century Vajrasattva attributed to Tibet on Sotheby’s but perhaps from Dolonnor too?

 

Yuan Dynasty, Mongolia, Shakyamuni, bronze (gilt copper alloy), from Kharakhoto, Inner Mongolia, photo by BabelStone on wikimedia, at the Inner Mongolia Museum (Hohhot, China).

Mongolia, Garwa Nagpo

18th century, Inner Mongolia, Dolonnor, Garwa Nagpo (labelled ‘Dorje Legpa’), gilt metal, 47,5 cm, private collection, Auction 819 lot 53, 7th December 2023, Nagel

This damcan/demchen may be a form of Dorje Legpa (accompanied by 360 retinue figures riding a goat) or an attendant to Dorje Legpa, always riding a billy goat with twisted horns according to Tibetan textual sources. Being a blacksmith, he brandishes a flaming vajra-tipped hammer in his right hand and a pair of bellows in the other –  with both arms stretched horizontally. He wears long silk garments and felt boots, has a third eye, bared fangs, and the above has flaming hair standing on his head, like a similar Mongolian Garwa Nagpo we saw on HAR , instead of the cane helmet we have seen on Tibetan sculptures.

Inner Mongolia, female deities

Late 18th century, Inner Mongolia, Dolonnor, Ushnishavijaya, parcel-gilt bronze repoussé, 36,5 cm, private collection, Art d’Asie lot 206, 14th June 2023, Christie’s (Paris).

Particularly popular in Mongolia, the three-head and eight-arm form of this long-life goddess always has a visvajra (either in one of her right hands – as would have been the case here – or in both main hands held in the gesture of meditation) and an effigy of Amitabha (usually held in the her upper right hand). The missing implements are likely to be a bow and an arrow in the middle hands, and a long-life vase in the lower left hand; the lower right one makes the gesture of supreme generosity, the upper left one makes the fear-allaying gesture.

Undated (circa 18th century), Mongolia, Dolonnor style, Ushnishavijaya, metal (gilt copper alloy with painted facial features), private collection, photo on HAR

Each head as a third eye, and the hair is pulled together and arranged in a double bun, as is traditional in the Dolonnor area.

17th-18th century, Mongolia, Ulaan Baatar, Sitatapatra, gilt bronze, photo by Daderot on wikimedia, exhibited at the Linden Museum in Stuttgart (Germany).

In her one-head and two-arm form Sitatapatra, whose name means ‘white parasol’, usually has a wheel in her right hand and a parasol in the other. She also has a third eye, and may have 3 heads and 6 to 10 arms, five heads and 10 arms, or a thousand heads and a thousand arms.

18th century, Inner Mongolia, Dolonnor style, White Tara, (parcel-gilt?) metal, private collection, photo on HAR

White Tara makes the gesture to bestow refuge with her left hand (tip of ring finger on tip of thumb) and extends her right hand in the gesture of generosity. She has a third eye on her forehead.

Undated (circa 18th century), Inner Mongolia, Dolonnor style, (White Tara), metal, private collection, photo by Hanai Auction on HAR

Undated (circa 18th century), Inner Mongolia, Dolonnor style, (White Tara), metal, private collection, photo on HAR

Mongolia, a teacher

18th-19th century, Mongolia, a Mongolian teacher of Buddhism, bronze, photo Gary Stockbridge on wikimedia, exhibited at the Linden Museum in Stuttgart (Germany).

His right hand makes the gesture to bestow patience – often used to display a rosary – and the other supports a spherical object. His long hair is combed back except for a few long stands that cover his shoulders and shawl.

Mongolia, Seated Buddhas (4)

16th-17th century (or later?), Mongolia, Shakyamuni, bronze (with cold gold and polychromy), photo by Daderot on wikimedia, exhibited at the Linden Museum in Stuttgart (Germany).

Late 18th-early 19th century, Mongolia, Dolonnor School, Ayush (Amitayus), gilt (metal) repoussé, 39,2 cm, published in Steppes: Forward and Back, Edie and Joel Frankel, New York, 2008, plate 9, on abebooks.

Mongolia, wrathful entities (11)

18th century, Mongolia, Vajrabhairava, polychrome bronze, 27,5 cm, private collection, Auction 814, China I, lot 282, 12th June 2023, Nagel

Vajrabhairava in his 9-head, 34-hand, and 16-leg form, in embrace with his consort, Vajravetali. He holds a skull cup and a flaying knife in his main hands, the remaining hands, now missing, would have held various wrathful and peaceful implements, and the upper ones usually hold an elephant skin stretched across his back. The missing pedestal probably included four deities and four animals.

The heads are arranged in a row of seven, six wrathful ones and the main one (which is always the head of a buffalo), plus another wrathful head, all of them with flaming hair and three eyes, and Manjushri’s at the top.

Early 19th century, Mongolia, Begtse Chen, polychrome bronze, 18,2 cm, same as before, lot 281.

There is no mention of Begtse Chen in ancient Buddhist texts but a legend tells of his failure at preventing the dalai lama Sonam Gyatso from entering Mongolia in 1575, which seems to indicate that Begtse Chen was a pre-Buddhist Mongol deity. The Tibetans began to worship him once Sonam Gyatso had turned him into a protector of the Buddhist faith. He has many names, whose meaning is ‘the hidden shirt of mail’, ‘brother and sister’, ‘the king of the dgra-lha – brother and sister’, the great sgrol gying’, ‘the life master, he who has a hidden shirt of mail’, ‘the yaksha, the sgrol-gying, the butcher’, ‘maha-yaksha, dgra-lha of India’, ‘ religious guardian of Khotan’, ‘obedient servant of Mahadeva’, and ‘shrog damarpo’ (the red life master), NOT to be confused with his acolyte or son of the same name.

His main attributes are a scorpion-hilted sword (right hand) and the heart of an enemy (left hand), sometimes complemented by a bow and arrow, as in this case. He always stands in a fighting pose, his straight left leg crushing a victim with a human appearance, the bent right leg treading on a horse.

The use of polychromy makes Mongolian sculptures of wrathful deities particularly striking.

Mongolia, Vajrasattva (2)

18th century, Inner Mongolia, Dolonnor, Vajrasattva, silver (with turquoise inlay, cold gold, pigments), 16,8 cm, The Claude de Marteau Collection Part IV, lot 45, 6th October 2023, Bonhams (Hong Kong)

Vajrasattva, adorned with a prominent Chinese-style crown with serpentine ribbons, holds an upright vajra sceptre in the palm of his right hand and vajra bell in the other.

Mongolia, seated buddhas (3)

18th century, Inner Mongolia, Dolonnor monastery, Buddha, gilt bronze repoussé, 18,4 cm, private collection, Asia lot 66, 28th September 2021, Christie’s

18th century, Mongolia (Chinese artist?), Amitayus, gilt copper with stone inlay, 34 cm, private collection, photo on Drouot

Late 18th century, Mongolia (Chinese artist?), parcel-gilt bronze with stone inlay, buddha (Amitayus), 24,1 cm, on Drouot

The double hair bun, the Chinese-style draping of the dhoti, and the copper repoussé scarf forming loops around the elbows are recurrent elements associated with the Dolonnor style. The lotus base is missing

17th-18th century, Mongolia, Zanabazar school, set of buddha figures, gilt bronze, 25 cm, private collection, photo on invaluable

A set of three works depicting the historical buddha, first with his right hand making the Earth-touching gesture and the other holding an alms bowl, then with both hands making the ‘turning the wheel of dharma‘ gesture, and then making the gesture of debate/discussion with the right hand while holding an alms bowl in the other (the auction house mentions Shakyamuni, Amitabha, and Bhaisajyaguru but Amitabha would have both hands cupped to hold a bowl of amrita and Bhaisajyaguru would extend his right hand palm out to display an arura fruit while holding a bowl or a medicine jar in the other).

17th century (or later?), Mongolia, Buddha, gilt bronze, 20,5 cm, Zanabazar School, private collection, photo on Artfox

Sculptures made by Zanabazar or his disciples usually have an oval face with fine facial features. The above has a squarish face with deeply grooved eyes and a prominent, almost droopy lower lip. Another unusual feature is the lower part of the lotus base, with normally has a taller plinth, with thinner beading.

18th century, Mongolia, Zanabazar School (labelled ‘Tibet or Mongolia’), Buddha, gilt bronze, 16 cm, private collection, photo on Drouot

Mongolia, Amitayus (3)

18th century, Inner Mongolia, Amitayus, gilt bronze, 17,5 cm, Dolonnor style, private collection, Arts of Asia Online lot 216, 29th March 2023, Christie’s.

Always depicted with a bodhisattva/princely appearance, this aspect of buddha Amitabha normally holds a vase of longevity in both hands (missing here and below). While the draping of the lower garment, the sharp loops of the scarf, and the design of the earrings bring to mind Chinese-style statues made in Tibet at the same time, the necklaces are an adaptation of the  Zanabazar style.

18th century, Mongolia, Amitayus, metal (copper alloy with cold gold, pigment, and turquoise inlay), The Seer Photographic Collection on HAR.

A singular example with a richly engraved dhoti, a profusion of stone inlay, and a lotus supporting a flaming jewel on his tall braided chignon.