In the context of Tibetan Buddhist practice, stupas, such as the present work, are placed on the altar to represent the Buddha's enlightened mind and to evoke the presence of the Buddha and his teachings.. This charming drum-shaped stupa is an excellent example of the new style that was popularized in Tibet starting from the seventeenth century. The current form of the stupa is known as the “Enlightenment Stupa” also referred to as the "Stupa of the Conquest of Mara," which symbolizes the thirty-five-year-old Buddha's attainment of enlightenment under the bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, where he conquered worldly temptations and attacks, manifesting in the form of Mara and his armies.
The drum-shaped body of the stupa sits atop a tiered pedestal ornamented with a pair of dharmachakras, symbols for the Buddha’s teachings. At the front of the stupa, the silhouette of a flaming jewel frames a hollow niche containing a relief of Vajradhara, the primordial Buddha. The stupa is stacked with a multi-tiered column topped with a large canopy echoing the forms of an archaic-style stupa. In Tibetan Buddhism, Vajradhara is the primordial Buddha believed to be the secret, or inner, form of Shakyamuni Buddha and the combined essence of all the buddhas of the ten directions and three periods of time. In the Highest Yoga Tantra tradition, it is Vajradhara who emanates the forms of the Five Symbolic Buddhas and Vajrasattva, followed by the meditational deities such as Guhyasamaja, Shri Hevajra and Chakrasamvara. According to the Nyingma Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, Vajradhara is an activity emanation of Buddha Samantabhadra.
Stupas form an important category in Tibetan Buddhist art, as they are memorials to the enlightenment of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni. Approaching the end of his life, the Buddha asked that his remains be cremated and spread across the eight kingdoms of his followers in India and Nepal. The form of the stupa was derived from the domed mounds of earth that entombed the relics of the Buddha, and for centuries before the development of iconic images of the Buddha, the circumambulation or worship of the stupa was one of the ways to venerate the Buddha. Over time the stupa assumed many forms across many cultures. This scaled-down model, possibly for a personal shrine, serves the same function of housing holy relics, but its higher purpose is to evoke the presence of the Buddha and his teachings. Compare the overall form of the stupa, the niche in the shape of a flaming jewel and the inset figure of the Buddha with another stupa sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2022, Lot 437.