The core of Symbols of Buddhism: Sculpture and Painting from India and the Himalayas is 14 paintings and sculptures of the high standard we have now come to expect at this firm’s splendid selling exhibitions. They are illustrated in a catalogue which is available at £25 ($40) including post and packing.
The exhibition is augmented with some other treasures from Rossi and Rossi’s stock giving the display an overall price range in the region of $50,000 to $2.5m.
The probable star of the show is a Nepalese gilt copper figure of Avalokitesvara (the embodiment of compassion) lavishly inlaid with lapis lazuli, glass and gems. This is from the hand of a Nepalese master sculptor working around the 13th century.
Standing 3ft (91cm) high cast Himalayan standing figures of this size and of this period are rare and the fact that this one is cast in one piece makes it exceptionally rare.
But more to the taste of many may be the earliest piece in the exhibition, a sublimely sensual Central Indian red sandstone fragment from the 2nd/3rd century BC which depicts the lower parts of a double-sided shalabanjike (representation of a woman and tree) which was once the supporting bracket of a gateway.
And in contrast we look towards Tibetan paintings. Rossi and Rossi are known for their Tibetan works and included in the New York exhibition is a typically vivacious and strikingly coloured distemper on cloth painting from Central Tibet, dating from the late 12th/early 13th century and centred on Vajravarahi, the symbol of freedom from ignorance.
The dealers aim to show the quality of Buddhist art through the centuries and this is not an exhaustive survey.
Rather, each piece is chosen for its transcendental beauty.
Himalayan experts off to conquer the Big Apple with Buddha
NOTED St. James’s Asian specialists Rossi and Rossi leave their Jermyn Street showrooms for New York this month for an exciting show which runs until March 26 at the galleries of Dickinson Roundell, 19 East 66th Street.
