TIBET, 13TH CENTURY

The present figure depicts Ratnasambhava, seated in the vajra posture atop a double lotus pedestal. His right hand displays the gesture of charity, while his left hand is elegantly held above his lap, showing the sign of meditation. Shown in the princely sambhogakaya form, Ratnasambhava Buddha is ornamented with elaborate jewelry and adornments, including a five-fold crown, a pair of circular earrings, and various necklaces and other beaded ornaments around his neck, arms, wrists and ankles.
Ratnasambhava emerges from the five Buddha families, signifying the purification of pride. Thought to reside in the south, and gold in color, other depictions of Ratnasambhava show him holding a wish-fulfilling jewel in his left hand, symbolizing the enriching qualities of the Buddha’s doctrine. The present sculpture belongs to a corpus of bronzes that were previously considered to derive from the western provinces of Tibet, but recent scholarship indicates posits that the present work and other stylistically related works were produced in the central province of Tsang in the thirteenth century, borrowing aspects of both Pala and Kashmiri sculptural styles.
Compare the present work with two bronze figures of Ratnasambhava illustrated by U. von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, p. 180, figs. 34A and 34B, along with a fourteenth-century sculpture of Ratnasambhava from Fondation Alain Bordier (acc. no. ABS 032). The sculpture is hollow cast in one piece as indicated by the connecting pieces in the five-fold crown. The present work is distinguished by the silver and copper inlays in the face, jewelry, and hems of the robes, and wear across the torso in a semi-ordered pattern suggests it was previously wrapped with silk coverings.