A GILT COPPER ALLOY RELIQUARY SVAYAMBHU STUPA, NEPAL, 17TH-18TH CENTURY
This lot is a museum deaccession and is therefore offered without reserve

The structure consists of a circular base with tiered steps leading to a tall dome finely worked with a hatched design encircled by a band of raised lotus petals. The square harmika above is neatly incised on each side with a stylized eye motif. The ribbed spire supports a lotus-decorated parasol with beaded leaf-form pendants, crowned by a square finial.

Provenance: The Kienzle Family Collection, Stuttgart, Germany. Acquired between 1950 and 1985 by siblings Else (1912-2006), Reinhold (1917-2008), and Dr. Horst Kienzle (1924-2019), during their extensive travels in Asia. Subsequently inherited by Dr. Horst Kienzle and bequeathed to the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Radevormwald, Germany. Released through museum deaccession in 2024. The Kienzle siblings were avid travelers and passionate collectors of Asian and Islamic art. During their travels, the Kienzle’s sought out and explored temples, monasteries, and markets, always trying to find the best pieces wherever they went, investing large sums of money and forging lasting relationships to ensure they could acquire them. Their fervor and success in this pursuit is not only demonstrated by their collection but further recorded in correspondences between Horst Kienzle and several noted dignitaries, businesses and individuals in Nepal and Ladakh. Their collection had gained renown by the 1970s, but the Kienzle’s stopped acquiring new pieces around 1985. Almost thirty years later, the collection was moved to the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Radevormwald, opened by Peter Hardt in 2014. Before his death in 2019, Horst Kienzle bequeathed his entire property to Peter Hardt and legally adopted him as his son, who has been using the name Peter Kienzle-Hardt ever since.
Condition: Good condition with minor wear and manufacturing irregularities, including copper casting patches. Few minor fatigue cracks and small tears to base, light dents, minor warping, minute nicks, small scratches. The bronze with a rich, naturally-grown, dark patina with areas of malachite encrustation.

Weight: 7.9 kg
Dimensions: Height 50.7 cm

Expert’s note:
The square harmika above the stupa's dome is engraved on all four sides with a pair of eyes surmounted by a tiered umbrella, replicating features of the Svayambhu (Self-Born) Stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal. As noted by Dina Bangdel, “The Great Stupa, an impressive architectural monument inhabiting a prominent hilltop in the Kathmandu Valley, is the premier religious center of the Newar Buddhist community. It is therefore not surprising that Svayambhu Mahachaitya serves as the stylistic and symbolic prototype of all chaityas, which are regarded at once as replicas and manifestations of the sacred monument." (see John C. Huntington and Dina Bangdel, The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Columbus Museum of Art, 5 October 2003 to 9 May 2004, p. 111.)

The Svayambhunath Stupa is one of the most ancient and enigmatic holy shrines in Kathmandu valley. Its white dome and glittering golden spire are visible from all sides of the valley. According to the Nepalese legend, an ancient buddha once planted a lotus seed in a lake in the Kathmandu Valley. The seed grew into a self-born lotus flower; its petals appear just beneath the central dome on this sculpture. Then, a five-colored beam of light spontaneously emanated from the lotus. Each color corresponded to one of the Five Directional Buddhas: blue Akshobhya in the east, yellow Ratnasambhava in the south, red Amitabha in the west, green Amoghasiddhi in the north, and white Vairocana in the center.

Stupas form an important category in Himalayan 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 in gilt-bronze 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.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related earlier model of a stupa with incised eyes similar to the Svayambhunath Stupa dated to the 16th century, 16 cm high, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 1985.400.16.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Zacke, Vienna, 17 December 2024, lot 19
Price: EUR 4,680
Description: A gilt copper alloy reliquary stupa, Nepal, 17^th-18^th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, decoration, manner of casting, and gilding. Note the size (66 cm).