37. STATUETTE DE BOUDDHA DIPANKARA EN ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE ET BOIS POLYCHROME NÉPAL, VERS XVIE SIÈCLE Himalayan Art Resources item no. 4819 39.7 cm (15 5/8) high A COPPER ALLOY AND POLYCHROMED WOOD FIGURE OF DIPANKARA BUDDHA NEPAL, CIRCA 16TH CENTURY 尼泊爾 約十六世紀 銅及木雕彩繪燃燈佛像 Provenance: With Claude de Marteau, Brussels, by 1968 Dipankara, the Buddha of the Past, is celebrated among Newar Buddhists as a protector of merchants. This most distinctive sculpture was made by combining a carved wood body with finely cast copper alloy feet, hands, and head. Although Dipankara's handsome face and clinging robe trace their stylistic origin to Gupta Indian sculpture of the 4th-to-6th century, its thinner lips and the curvaceous treatment of the waist suggest this figure is a c. 16th-century homage to the Newar's aesthetic heritage. The facial modelling of a large Nepalese bronze Buddha from the 10th century, in the Zhiguan Museum of Fine Art, also resembles that of the present work, further attesting to the Newar's conservative tradition and enduring standards of craftsmanship (The Light of the Buddha, 2019, pp. 236-41, no. 57; HAR 8082). Related wood sculpture include a Crowned Buddha in the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Berlin (I 10069), and another mixed wood and bronze image of Dipankara from the late Malla period in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond (2018.97), to which the present sculpture's sensuous modelling compares favorably.