A gilt copper alloy figure of Jigten Sumgon Rinchen Pel, Tibet, 13th century

21 mars 2017

A gilt copper alloy figure of Jigten Sumgon Rinchen Pel, Tibet, 13th century

Lot 3236. A gilt copper alloy figure of Jigten Sumgon Rinchen Pel, Tibet, 13th century. Estimate USD 250,000 ~ 350,000. Sold for US$ 463,500 (€429,087). Photo: Bonhams.

9 1/8 in. (23.3 cm) high

Himalayan Art Resources item no.2270

Note: The casting is flawless. Simple, yet elegant and powerful, a young man, with his head held high, surveys his immediate environs. He was given the name Jigten Sumgon Rinchen Pel (1143-1217), 'Precious One, The Protector of the Three Worlds', and his Drigung Kagyu order dominated the political landscape of Tibet in the late 12th and 13th centuries, enjoying great wealth and patronage.

The bronze is closely related to two important 13th-century sculptures that confirm its identity. First is a heavily published example of Rinchen Pel held in the Musée Guimet, the subject of a broad consensus since Stoddard's recent research, which contends that it was made in the early 13th century, situating it either within or shortly after the subject's lifetime (see Czaja & Proser (eds), Golden Vision of Densatil, New York, 2014, pp.68-9, no.1). The second is held in the Potala Palace, published initially by von Schroeder as 14th century, but then later by Jackson as 13th. It bears an almost identical likeness to the present lot (Jackson, Painting Traditions of the Drigung Kagyu School, New York, 2015, p.89, fig.5.12).

A third bronze of Rinchen Pel in the Collection Yang Zi is particularly useful for narrowing the present bronze's date of production (Huang, Xizang Dansatisi Lishi Yanjiu, Beijing, 2016, pp.60-1). It differs from the present lot in having a more quintessentially 14th-century Densatil style lotus base, indicating that the bronze at hand was probably made elsewhere. The most obvious place suitable for a commission of this magnitude would have been Drigung monastery itself, which was sacked by the Sakya in 1290, suggesting an end cap for the date of this bronze within the 13th century.

Immaculate and magisterial, the bronze bespeaks an order at the height of its power. As the followers of Pagmodrupa (1110-70) organized themselves into offshoots after his cremation, Rinchen Pel and his Drigung order, founded in 1179, emerged as the more aggressive and dominant. There is even a record of him taking possession of the reliquary of Pagmodrupa's heart from Densatil monastery in 1208, until enough pressure mounted for him to return it. Indeed, between the time that the Drigung established relations with the Mongols in 1222, to their loss of Yuan patronage under Kubilai Khan c.1260, the order enjoyed vast political power and wealth, representing a broad sweep of kingdoms in Central and Western Tibet to the Ilkhanate (Stoddard, "'Bri Gung, Sa Skya and Mongol Patronage", in Dating Tibetan Art, Wiesbaden, 2003, p.66).

Stoddard argues that images such as the present lot might be copies of a principal cult image of Rinchen Pel, created within his lifetime at Drigung monastery by a Chinese artist. Called the 'Lord of the Golden Temple', it was said to be no different from the master himself. Stoddard asserts that Rinchen Pel's chief disciple also commissioned many other sculptures of the master by this Chinese artist. Meanwhile, there is an ongoing discussion as to why bronzes like the Guimet, Potala, and present example are often called 'Mongol images' (hor sku) by Drigung lamas. While Stoddard infers this is because they were commissioned by Mongol rulers, Jackson contends that it is simply due to their production in a period of Mongol rule (op. cit. p.38). Credible sources also inform us that from 1198, Rinchen Pel employed the skills of Newari casters for at least a decade to create the prototype of the Densatil stupas at Drigung Monastery (Czaja & Proser, p.184).