Provenance:
Clarice Goldstone Collection
Rossi & Rossi, London
New York Private Collection
The subject of this splendid gilt-copper alloy image is Kalacakra, The Wheel of Time. Kalacakra is one of the principal deities of the Anuttarayoga tantras, the final phase of Esoteric Buddhist literature that arose in north India during the medieval period. The highly-complex literature associated with the practice of Kalacakra dates to around the end of the tenth century and was first translated into Tibetan in the early eleventh century.
This exquisite gilt-copper alloy sculpture depicts Kalacakra, the Wheel of Time. Kalacakra is a principal deity of the Anuttarayoga tantras, the final phase of Esoteric Buddhist literature that emerged in medieval north India. The complex teachings and practices associated with Kalacakra date to the late tenth century and were first translated into Tibetan in the early eleventh century. Kalacakra is envisioned as portrayed here: a male figure with twenty-four arms, embracing the eight-armed Visvamata, both holding emblems of their transcendent powers. Together, they stand at the center of an elaborate mandala, which, according to texts and paintings, encompasses 722 deities.
This finely cast and meticulously finished sculpture closely relates to paintings and sculptures from the Qianlong period (1736–96). The faces, hands, and feet are delicately painted in gold, contrasting with the more highly polished fire-gilded surfaces of the torsos, limbs, and lotus base. The treatment of jewelry, facial features, and limbs aligns with Qianlong-era paintings, such as the depiction of Samantabhadra in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, and other Buddhist paintings commissioned under imperial patronage. The design and execution of the lotus petals also closely resemble those found on sculptures bearing the Qianlong imperial mark.
