1131.96 New York (city) - The Metropolitan |N*(-82 museum of art - Far Eastern art, ^\ Dept. of. Bronze sculptures from Asia [exhibition, Feb. - Sept. 1975] N.Y. ,c1975. BRONZE SCULPTURES FROM ASIA On the cover: Padmapani Lokeshvara Seated in Meditation Northern Pakistan. Swat Valley Region (or Kashmir) First half of the Seventh Century (see Plate 4) ( 1 » " »\i ' v • y BRONZE SCULPTURES FROM ASIA BY MARTIN LERNER The Department of Far Eastern Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Copyright© 1975 by The Metropolitan Museum of Art i? u- o < 2« 5 § LU X r- y—Ss O ^ to o z < < * Bronze Sculptures from Asia The bronze sculptures in this exhibition come from such a vast geographical area, and such disparate cultures, as well as spanning some six centuries, that there can be no attempting to summarize here this major chapter in the history of man's artistic legacy. The interested reader will easily find this elsewhere. The omission of the historical context may indeed help some to concentrate on the purely visual delights these bronzes have to offer, since they were selected not in an attempt at a synopsis of the sculptural achievements of the cultures represented but rather for their individual aesthetic merits. Each, in its own way, stands as testimony to the skills and artistic genius of anonymous metalworkers at the service of their religions. The mechanics of the spread of styles was accomplished to a large measure through these small portable icons. Peripatetic monks and pilgrims carried them from one country to another; missions from the court of one country took them to faraway kingdoms, sometimes as gift, tribute, or as an aid to proselytizing. Indian bronzes, for example, have been found in China, and throughout Southeast Asia. The need to more closely delimit the dates of these images becomes acute, since the understanding of the chronology of the dissemination of styles is to a large part dependent on them. The technology of their manufacture is becoming clearer as increasing numbers of metal analysis are conducted. Some of these analyses prove the usage of the octo-alloy {ashta dhatu), which includes gold and silver, mentioned in the ancient metalworking treatises. They are all made by the lost-wax technique and, depending upon the alloy, are properly called bronzes, brasses or coppers. Lacking metal analysis for most, we have, with the exception of those with high silver content, retreated into the convenience of labeling them all "bronze," even though some are obviously not. The relative scarcity of metal images from these areas makes it easy to forget that often metal rather than stone was the source material for the finest sculptures. The costly nature of metal insured, in many instances, that only the most accomplished sculptors could work with it. And freed from the confines of the stone block, and working in a technique which allowed for a considerably greater plasticity, what glorious images they must have fashioned. Throughout history statues of the type included in this exhibition have been melted down to retrieve the metal; what has survived must indeed be considered rare treasure from the ancients. A final note, the length of the individual catalogue entries should not be considered the measure of the importance of these sculptures. Some have been well published, while others are being published for the first time. 19 5 8 2 7 1. Standing Buddha Northern Pakistan, purported to have been excavated at Sahri-Bahlol Style of Gandhara, fifth-sixth century Bronze Height: 11 Vi inches (including halo) Edith Perry Chapman Fund, 48.66 Plate 1 The sculptural styles of the ancient Gandhara region of northwest India and northern Pakistan are well preserved by rich remains in stone and stucco. A few rare, small bronzes, almost always representations of the standing Buddha, have also survived. A few of these "Gandharan" bronzes may belong to the late Kushan period (late third or early fourth century), closely following styles established in stone; more likely, however, they stand at some as yet undetermined chronological remove from their stone prototypes, perhaps by as much as three centuries.1 Most clearly belong to the later period. The Buddha's right hand is raised in the fear-allaying gesture {abhayamudra); his lowered left holds a portion of his outer garment. The treatment of the locks of hair is neither in the orthodox manner of Gandhara (the wavy "hellenistic" manner) nor that of the school of Mathura, with its individualized, small whorls of hair. Instead, it follows a late Kushan development in the Gandhara region of radiating half-concentric bands of hair, more clearly developed in the seated Buddha from Swat (no. 6, pi. 6). The treatment of the physiognomy is strongly reminiscent of the remarkable bronze standing Bodhisattva formerly in the Leff collection and now in the Los Angeles County Museum,2 and, to a lesser extent, the famous Berlin Vishnu Trimurti, which, as Dr. Pal has recently suggested, is more likely to be sixth-century Gandharan rather than seventh-century Kashmiri.3 The Buddha has recently been cleaned. 1. Barrett, D., "Gandhara Bronzes," The Burlington Magazine, no. 689, August 1960. pp. 361-63. 2. Pal, P., "Bronzes of Kashmir: Their Sources and Influences," Journal of the Rovai Society of Arts, October 1973, fig. 10. 3. Pal, P., "A Brahmanical Triad from Kashmir and Some Related Icons." Archives of'Asian Art, XXVII. 1973-74, fig. 8, p. 38. Published: 1. Barrett, D., "Gandhara Bronzes", The Burlington Magazine, No. 689. August 1960, fig. 30. 2. Rowland, B., The Evolution of the Buddha Image, New York, 1963, No. 5. 3. Chow, F., "Chinese Buddhist Sculpture," The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n. s.. vol. XXIII, May 1965, fig. 5. 4. Hallade,M., Gandharan Art of North India, New York, 1968, pi. 128. 2. Seated Buddha Northern India, later style of Sarnath, ca. first half of the seventh century Gilded bronze inlaid with silver and copper Height: (?/% inches Lent by Professor Samuel Eilenberg Plate 2 The Buddha is seated on a cushion set on a stylized rocky mountain; his lowered right hand makes the boon-bestowing gesture (varadamudra), his left rests on his lap, holding a portion of the outer garment. The style of this sculpture relies heavily on the canons of the sixth-century schools of Sarnath but here is no longer so consciously geometricized; instead, the classical Gupta forms of the fifth and early sixth centuries have become a bit more heavy, the proportions more squat than encountered previously. The use of inlaid silver and copper to enrich the surfaces became fairly common after the fifth century. The curious iconography of a lion's head peering out from a cave in the center of the rocks again closely associates the piece with Sarnath. There are at least two rather close comparisons to be made with Sarnath stone pedestals for seated Buddhas incorporating a lion's head resting on crossed paws.1 This motif, rather than deriving from traditional lion thrones, seems traceable to Kushan reductions of elaborate representations of the Buddha in the Indrashala cave.2 I am indebted to Elizabeth Rosen for the information that the inscription on the back of the Buddha is the standard Buddhist creed in early Nagari script epigraphically consistent with my stylistic dating. 1. Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report 1906-7, p. 91, fig. 9; Catalogue of the Museum of Archaeology at Sarnath, pi. IX 2. For two examples, see Ashton, L. (ed.), The Art of India and Pakistan, New York, 1949. fig. 59, and Ingholt, H., Gandharan Art in Pakistan, New York. 1957, pi. 129. Published: Rowland, B., The Evolution of the Buddha Image, New York, 1963, no. 13 3. Standing Buddha Northern India, first half of the seventh century Gilded bronze Height: 18'/2 inches Purchase, Bequest of Florance Waterbury, 69.222 Plate 3 The Buddha stands in a slight hip-shot position, his left hand holding a portion of his outer robe; his right, raised in the fear-allaying gesture, clearly shows the webbing between the fingers, one of the supranatural physical marks of a Buddha. This tall and elegant image with its large, powerful head is the kind of North Indian sculpture that played a major role in the formulation of the early Nepali style. Indeed, part of the long history of this particular sculpture included a stay of unknown duration in Nepal. Compare with the Standing Buddha in the Los Angeles County Museum. Archives of Asian Art, XXV, 1971-72, p. 98. Published: Masterpieces ofFifty Centuries. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York. 1970. no. 104. 4. Padmapani Lokeshvara Seated in Meditation Pakistan, Swat Valley Region (or Kashmir), first half of the seventh century Gilded bronze inlaid with silver and copper Height: S3A inches Purchase, Harris Brisbane Dick and Fletcher Funds, 1974.273 Plate 4 This superb sculpture, one of the finest Swat Valley bronzes brought to light so far, closely reflects the inspiration of the Gupta idiom of Northern India during the sixth century. It occupies a pivotal position in Indian art, illustrating the transition between the sixth-century Gupta style and the great sculptural traditions of the eighth century in Kashmir and the Swat Valley region. The deity is identifiable as the Bodhisattva Padmapani Lokeshvara, the lotus-bearing manifestation of the Lord of Infinite Compassion—Avalokiteshvara. The small Buddha in his hairdo is Amitabha, the "spiritual Father" of the Bodhisattva. Wearing an antelope skin draped over his left upper arm and holding a lotus in his right hand, the Bodhisattva sits in the relaxed posture of "royal ease" (rajalilasana) on a platform supported by an inverted lotus.