A SILVER-INLAID BRONZE FIGURE OF DRUKPA KUNLEY, THE ‘MAD YOGI’, HIMALAYAN REGIONS, 19TH CENTURY

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A SILVER-INLAID BRONZE FIGURE OF DRUKPA KUNLEY, THE ‘MAD YOGI’, HIMALAYAN REGIONS, 19TH CENTURY Expert’s note: The present figure is a particularly enigmatic work of strong and individual character. Particularly remarkable is the treatment of the hair, which is modeled in dense rows of tightly coiled curls, an unusual feature that appears deliberately intended to distinguish the figure from conventional representations of Buddhist masters and ascetics. Together with the unorthodox pose, naked upper body, and lively expression, this idiosyncratic coiffure leads us to suggest that the subject may be none other than Drukpa Kunley, the celebrated ‘Mad Yogi’ of the Drukpa Kagyu lineage. Renowned for challenging religious convention through humor, provocation, and deliberately irreverent behavior, Kunley would have been an especially fitting subject for such an unconventional and spirited image. For an earlier and larger figure of a yogi, with similar curls, see a figure possibly representing Padampa Sangye, Tibet, 11th-12th century, formerly in the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, at Christie’s New York, 17 March 2015, lot 8, sold for USD 4,869,000. Finely cast, the ascetic figure seated in ardha-padmasana, the slender body rendered with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and elongated arms, the hands resting upon the knees with the palms lowered and fingers extended. The figure is clad in a simple loincloth secured around the waist. The sensitively modeled face bears a serene expression, with wide almond-shaped eyes inlaid in silver, arched brows, a broad nose, and full lips forming a smile, flanked by elongated earlobes. The hair is arranged in rows of tightly curled, overlapping locks falling over the shoulders. Dimensions: Height 17.3 cm Drukpa Kunley (1455-1529), popularly known as the Divine Madman, was a Tibetan Buddhist yogin, poet, and teacher of the Drukpa Kagyu lineage. He traveled throughout Tibet and Bhutan, using songs, bawdy humor, and deliberately irreverent conduct to challenge religious hypocrisy and conventional ideas of sanctity. These methods made him one of the most celebrated figures in Bhutanese religious folklore. Kunley’s actions were understood as a form of upaya, or skillful means, intended to free others from attachment to social conventions and superficial notions of purity. His Flaming Thunderbolt of Wisdom, a euphemism for his penis, was said to subdue demons, symbolically liberating beings from ignorance, pride, and spiritual delusion. Quote: “I have come without prejudice to help you, where can I find the best booze and most beautiful women?” – Drukpa Kunley upon entering a village According to one story, Kunley entered a nunnery whose inhabitants took great pride in their strict discipline. Standing before a sacred thangka of the Buddha, he asked whether they could see the Buddha in the painting. When they answered that they could, he exposed himself and asked whether they could also recognize the Buddha within him. Horrified, the nuns condemned his conduct, but Kunley rebuked them for venerating a painted image while failing to perceive the living Buddha-nature before them. The episode conveys his teaching that genuine insight transcends distinctions between sacred and profane, symbol and reality.

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